s 

B4 






HE ASSOCIATION OF 
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



A.J. BERRY M.A 



mm 
■i 



BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED 




Pass Jib I 
Book 3i- 



"Blackies Library of Tedagogics 



The Association of 
History and Geography 



BlacKie's 

Library of Pedagogics 

The Association of History and Geography. By A. J. Berry, 

M.A., Director of Education, Preston, is. 6d. net. 
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GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY CORRELATED 

Lands and their Stories 

Regional and Causal Geography 
closely linked with History 

WITH A SERIES OF REPRODUCTIONS OF FAMOUS 

PAINTINGS BEAUTIFULLY PRINTED IN COLOUR 

AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACK 

AND WHITE AND MAPS AND PLANS 



Education Committees and Inspectors of Schools 
are everywhere insisting that History and Geography 
should be taught in close correlation; that among 
the great movements of History the teachers 
should trace the effects of geographical conditions. 
Thus only can the study of these kindred subjects 
yield the best educational results. This method 
is crystallized in Lands and their Stories, a series 
which provides a complete scheme of teaching 
correlating Geography and History throughout. 



BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED 
50 OLD BAILEY LONDON 

GLASGOW AND BOMBAY 

[P.T.O. 



LANDS AND THEIR STORIES 



LIST OF THE SERIES 

BOOK I.— LITTLE FOLK IN MANY LANDS. By 
Hugh Laurence. With i6 coloured and 50 other 
pictures. F'cap 4to, ]s. 

BOOK II.— TALES AND TRAVELS. By Hugh 
Laurence. With 16 coloured and 50 other pictures. 
F'cap 4to, IS. 

BOOK III.-ENGLAND AND THE ENGLISH. By 

A. J. Berry, M.A., Director of Education, Preston. 12 
coloured plates from famous pictures ; many other 
illustrations and maps. With Appendices. Demy 8vo, 
cloth, IS. 3^. 

BOOK IV. -SCOTLAND, IRELAND, AND BRITAIN 
OVERSEAS. By A. J. Berry, M.A., Director of 
Education, Preston. 12 coloured plates from famous 
pictures ; many other illustrations and maps. With 
Appendices. Demy 8vo, cloth, is. 6d. 

BOOK V.-EUROPE AND ITS PEOPLES. By H. W. 

Palmer, B.A., Richmond County School. 12 coloured 
plates from famous pictures ; many other illustrations 
and maps. With Appendices. Demy 8vo, cloth, is. 8d. 

BOOK VI. -OUR EMPIRE OVERSEAS. By H. W. 
Palmer, B.A., Richmond County School. 12 coloured 
plates from famous pictures ; many other illustrations 
and maps. With Appendices. Demy 8vo, cloth, is. ^d. 



The Association of 
History and Geography 



BY 



A. J. BERRY, M.A. 

Director of Education, Preston 



BLACKIE AND SON, LIMITED 

50 OLD BAILEY LONDON 

GLASGOW AND BOMBAY 

1911 



.5 
.3^ 



Know that the human being's thoughts and deeds 
Are not like ocean billows blindly moved ; 
The inner world, his microcosm us, is 
The deep shaft out of which they spring eternally^ 
They grow by certain laws, like the trees' fruit ; 
No juggling chance can metamorphose them." 

— Wallenstein, Coleridge's translation. 






Preface 

We have not yet reached the stage when we can 
assume it is unnecessary to emphasize the dual re- 
lationship that the teacher occupies to both his sub- 
jects, the person and the thing, for there still lingers 
the tendency to put in the background a teacher's 
skill and methods, and to consider it sufficient if he 
is acquainted with the subject he proposes to teach. 
In other words, however much lip-service is given, 
in theory, to the need for "Child-Study", it is, in 
practice, constantly being overlooked. 

But the relationship, in teaching, cannot be dismissed 
as simply one even between pupil, subject, and teacher. 
There is the further relationship between the subject 
and its fellows. 

The formal object lesson, though valuable from the 
aspect of "sense" training, often proved in practice 
barren and unstimulating. In the presentation and 
examination of the object there was often an isolation 
which, even when it did not lead to real distortion, 
did not at any rate generate intelligent mental 
associations. 

It was with some relief, therefore, that teachers 
welcomed the wider conceptions involved in " Nature- 
Study", a subject which afforded as favourable a field 
as the object lesson for the training of the senses, 
but which, at the same time, presented things in 
their natural setting. 

An aspect of Nature-Study on the largest scale is 
given in the following pages, which embody an 



VI 



PREFACE 



attempt to present man in his proper environment. 
The relations of History and Geography may readily 
fall under the "co-ordination of subjects" upon which 
Herbartians lay such stress. The argument for co- 
ordination, on general grounds, is strong because of 
the manifest economy of effort. It will appear stronger 
when we consider that the law of association lies at 
the base of all mental acquisitions. 

Elements of knowledge which have no points of 
contact with the previous contents of the mind are 
unable to find reception or accommodation. Ex nihilo^ 
nihil fit. 

Froebel, the "prince of educators", saw yet more 
clearly the aspects of inter-relation in all its com- 
prehensiveness. To him the fundamental fact in 
education, as in the whole structure of human society, 
and in Nature herself, was an inner unity or con- 
nection. Instruction in isolated subjects could not 
be considered as real education. Each portion of 
knowledge must be related to every other portion 
to secure the development of the individual in its 
entirety. The mind of the child is a unity, in its 
threefold functions of thinking, feeling, and willing. 
The unity of the child's whole being forbade that 
it should develop in three separate compartments, 
physically, mentally, and morally. The influences 
which affect his bodily health, not only influence 
his brain development, but tend to the making or 
marring of his character. 

This idea of the unity of knowledge leads up to 
the stimulating conception that there is a Providence 
Who rules over all : 

" Little flower, but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all 
I should know what God and man is". 



PREFACE vii 

The connection between History and Geography is 
based on the fundamental law that the progress of 
civilisation depends on two kinds of forces, the human 
and the physical. But these two are not co-factors 
working independently to a definite end. As as- 
sociates approximate to each other in thoughts and 
ways, so human and physical forces react and interact 
on each other in their partnership. Man is learning 
to subjugate Nature the whole time that he is sitting 
on her knee and reading the storybook that the 
Father has written in her language. 

Not only so, but Nature is the expounder of man's 
destinies. 

" One impulse from a vernal wood 
May teach you more of man, 
Of moral evil and of good, 
Than all the sages can". 

Child-Study is not far removed from Nature-Study; 
in fact, if we regard the development of the child 
as reproducing in miniature the development of the 
race, Child-Study is but one aspect of Nature-Study. 

In an attempt to sketch a large object on a small 
scale, such as is here presented, one must necessarily 
deal with broad generalizations, and thus perhaps sug- 
gest a uniformity which does not exist. There must 
always be sidestreams in history. The history of 
a nation is not the sum total of natural conditions, 
although an examination of the conditions will warrant 
the idea that there are several regions of the globe 
with such distinctive characteristics that they give 
a decided direction to the development of its in- 
habitants. 

Many of the problems of the schoolroom will 
be found to have been worked out on a large scale 
in the history of the world. No one can read the 



viii PREFACE 

latter aright, without being impressed by the influence 
of environment. 

This will cause the teacher to have ever in mind 
the varying circumstances of his scholars' home life. 
The child from healthy home surroundings will be 
capable of much more strenuous effort than his less 
favourably placed brother. Hence the teacher will 
see to it that, as far as lies in his power, the environ- 
ment of the schoolroom shall be that most suited to 
the child's needs. 

A full recognition of the power of environment will 
show that there are different stages of development. 
There is the period when growth is apparently very 
slow, the time of preparation, which, however, is very 
necessary, if there is to be the "full measure of the 
man" later, and the very slowness of the initial stages 
is frequently the best guarantee that the subsequent 
growth will be rapid and coherent. 

In the child's world, as in the history of mankind, 
there must be the room to make mistakes, the mistakes 
of those who are groping for the light, and only so far 
as children step on their dead selves can they climb 
upwards. 

Yet freedom must not degenerate into licence. The 
child, though allowed sufficient scope to work out 
his own development, must still work within the limits 
laid down by the wise teacher. The practice of 
laissex-faire is as injurious educationally as the 
policy of cast-iron restrictions. The former encour- 
ages carelessness and lack of concentration, the latter 
produces revulsion in the crushing of individuality. 

Lastly, the message from the story of the world 
is full of hope for the earnest teacher. A wise sowing 
must inevitably produce its own beautiful harvest. 



Contents 



Coexistences and Sequences 

Sequences ...... 

Historical Considerations and Influences . 
The Mission of the Story-Teller 
The Holy Land (Part I) . 
The Holy Land (Part II) . 
The Natural Features of the Holy Land in 
Jewish Poetry ..... 

The Earliest Navigators .... 

Early Migrations ..... 

The Early Greeks ..... 

Civitas Romanorum 

Imperium ...... 

Obstructions of Mountain, Marsh, and Forest 
Tribal Migrations ..... 

Observational Work (Part I) . 
Observational Work (Part II) . 
The Norsemen ..... 

Feudal Lords (Part I) . . . . 

Feudal Lords (Part II) . . . 

The Saracens or Easterns .... 

Trade of the Middle Ages 

Russia ....... 

The Era of Discoveries .... 

ix 



Page 
II 

H 

17 
20 
27 
30 

33 

11 
4.0 

43 
47 
51 
54 
56 

59 
62 

65 
68 

71 
74 
1^ 
79 



CONTENTS 



The New World (Part I) • • 

The New World (Part II) . . 

Spanish Colonies in America 
The Dutch in the Contest for Sea Power 
The French in the New World 
English Colonists in the New World 
The United States (North and South) 
The Wonderland of the East (Part I) 
The Wonderland of the East (Part II) 
The Wonderland of the East (Part III) 
The Celestial Empire . . . 

Australasia . . . . 

Africa ...... 

Nature's Provisions .... 

The Progress of Mankind 
London (Its Site and Early History) . 
Saxon London 
Norman London 
Crusades and Pilgrimages 
Monks and Friars 
Supplies . 
Trade and Traders (Part I) 
Trade and Traders (Part II) 
The Ruin of the Feudal Lords and of the 
teries ..... 

Elizabeth's Spacious Times 

Stuart Times ..... 

London, Capital of the Empire (Part I) 
London, Capital of the Empire (Part II) 



M( 



Page 
84 

87 
90 

93 
96 

lOI 

104. 
106 
109 
1 12 
116 
119 
123 
126 
129 
131 
135 
138 
142 

145 

148 

151 
155 

157 
161 
164 
167 
169 



The Association of 
History and Geography 



COEXISTENCES AND SEQUENCES 

Actions and phenomena are connected with circum- 
stances of time and place, and therein lies the most 
elementary association which we meet with, in linking 
together History and Geography. 

Yet a higher scientific conception of the relation- 
ship between the two subjects is found not in co- 
existences but in sequences. Man, in all stages of 
development, is influenced more or less by the geo- 
graphical conditions of the regions he occupies. In 
proportion to his stage of development, so is the extent 
of these external influences. 

In savage life, the effect is direct and decided. 
We can trace the workings of environment in the dif- 
ferences between the semi-aquatic Eskimos and the 
hunting Red Indians, between the stationary vegetable- 
feeding islanders of the sunny Pacific, and the wander- 
ing omnivorous tribes of the Australian scrub. 

The relationship between History and Geography 
will thus often resolve itself not simply into one of 
event and venue, but into one of action and causation. 
It is therefore frequently impossible to fix a line of 

11 



12 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

demarcation between the two subjects, and the modern 
conception of Geography is expressed in the statement 
that we no longer content ourselves with answers to 
the question " Where " but demand in addition " Why 
there". 

According as civilization advances, so does man 
become less the servant and more the master of 
Nature. Yet he can never entirely shake off his de- 
pendence on physical conditions. The inhabitants of 
grassy steppes, by force of circumstances, will be 
nomadic herdsmen, the occupiers of the river plain 
tillers of the soil and producers of grain, the men of 
the sea-coast traders and adventurers. In our days 
when man has called to his aid the mighty agencies 
of Steam and Electricity, it is but to still further em- 
phasize his dependence on Nature's gifts — Coal, Iron, 
and Water-power. 

Owing to the increase in the sum-total of man's 
knowledge, specialization and severance into subjects 
become necessary. Yet the artificiality of the divorce 
often becomes apparent, and the danger involved in the 
separation will strike us when we consider that Nature 
never presents to us one-sided problems. Our cleav- 
ages must therefore never lose sight of this aspect. 

In the material world, we know that all substances 
have " affinities ". What are commonly called " cor- 
ruption " and "destruction" are nothing but the 
changed arrangements of the same constituent ele- 
ments. 

What is true in this respect of the physical world is 
doubly true of the intellectual. Our mental machinery 
will not work along haphazard and disconnected lines. 
Continuity is as essential to mental development as it is 
to the material, and, according to Professor Stout, the 
main principle which Psychology has brought to the 
theory of education is that the latter must take for 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 13 

its basis, the recognition of the need that all communi- 
cation of new knowledge should be a development of 
what is previously known. 

Actual experience teaches us that our thoughts 
follow each other in a stream, but there is something 
more than a mere succession. Each is suggested by 
a predecessor, so that the analogy for the succession 
of ideas should be rather that of a chain with con- 
nected links, than that of the passage of flowing water. 

Man is a social animal. The faculty of speech pro- 
claims him to be such, and his mental life enforces, 
from the side of ideas, the universality of the social 
instincts. 

This aspect is emphasized also in the " classifica- 
tions" of science, but there is always the danger of 
doing violence to the whole of which each forms a 
part. The evidence of the schoolroom on this point 
is worthy of consideration. Boys are usually found to 
like Geography, but show less fondness for History. 
With girls, the tables are reversed. The com- 
bination of the two subjects seems in the case of 
both boys and girls to supply the element which was 
lacking. 

The principle of fellowship in the mental world, 
whether we call it simply " Association of Ideas " , or 
describe it by the more dignified titles of " Correlation 
of Subjects", and "Apperception Masses", can be re- 
garded as part of the larger question of the process of 
mental growth which involves inter-connection. The 
past and the present are the groundwork for the 
future. Thought must kindle itself at the fire of 
thought : 

" Nothing in this world is single; 
All things by a law divine 
In one another's being mingle ". 



14 THE ASSOCIATION OF 



SEQUENCES 

We confess our dependence on Nature each time 
that we speak of " Mother Earth ", and doubtless the 
Greeks had the same acknowledgment in mind, when 
they told the story of Antasus, the son of Gasa (Ge, 
the earth), a giant who was vanquished only when 
Hercules was able to hold him aloft and so sever the 
close contact which he sought to maintain with the 
earth. 

Let us look more minutely at the relationships 
between man and the region wherein he dwells. In 
primitive times, races were drawn to those spots which 
were most favourable to their existence, where food 
could be easily obtained from fruit-bearing trees or 
from the products of the chase, and where the climate 
was kind enough to render clothing and shelter super- 
fluous. 

A further stage arrives, when the value of tillage 
and the domestication of animals are recognized. Food 
and clothing are then always available. Good pastures 
and the fertile soils of river valleys are then the favoured 
sites. As these become congested, and other districts 
are taken up, necessity impels to fresh uses. Forests 
are utilized for their fuel, next for their service in 
carpentry, and eventually for their value in shipbuild- 
ing. 

For offensive and defensive purposes, the value of 
weapons made of metal becomes known, and mineral 
deposits are made to hand up their stores of wealth. 
The desire for friendly intercourse and commerce sets 
up movements which become the most vitalizing of 
all progressive elements. 

In this way, external geographical conditions began 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 15 

to be important, and we have to consider not only the 
influences of the region on its occupiers but also how 
region is related to region. 

Greece was especially favoured in its position be- 
tween the civilizations of Asia and Egypt, being as- 
sisted to reach both by the islands which formed a 
series of stepping-stones. Thus it early attained 
the foremost place among enlightened communities. 
Palestine on the contrary was a country set apart 
from the rest of the world. It was separated from 
the great nations of the East by the arid plains lying 
beyond the Jordan, and parted from Egypt by the 
Southern Desert. It was thus an ideal land to serve 
as the depository of the Divine Revelation which was 
to be kept free from idolatrous influences. 

The slope of the land will frequently modify the 
tendencies due to position. The Balkan Peninsula 
by its slope leans towards Asia, rather than towards 
Europe, and this helps to account for the persistence 
of the Asiatic tendencies of the Turks. 

The Iberian Peninsula in the character of its plateaux^ 
and its separation from the rest of Europe by the difficult 
Pyrenees, belongs rather to Africa than to the former 
Continent. Thus it readily formed the home of the 
Moors for hundreds of years. 

Rome was intended by Nature to look westwards, 
rather than towards the east, and her Empire made 
its most lasting impression on the people in that 
direction. 

As movements began to be set up between race and 
race, and region and region, the position, direction, and 
extent of mountains, rivers, and deserts became of 
prime importance. Thus the valley of the Danube 
helped to determine the general lines of advance into 
Europe from Asia, and the general axis of the moun- 
tains led the wandering peoples along the same path, 



1 6 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

just as in the converse sense the tablelands and deserts 
of Asia stopped tribal advances. 

Deserts must always prove effective barriers to easy 
communications, and it is therefore not surprising to 
find that the Sahara confined the early settlers of the 
North of Africa to the sea-border. 

The directions of mountains may have decided bear- 
ings on the nature of the climate, and therefore on the 
regional industries. The Rocky Mountains of America 
intercept the v^^esterly winds which bring rain from the 
Pacific waters, and thus render farming impossible in 
many parts of the North-western United States, unless 
irrigation is provided. On the other hand, the moun- 
tain axis allows free play to the north and south winds, 
so that the warm south winds are able to carry their 
moisture inland, and the north winds are able to 
moderate the summer heat of the southern provinces. 
In consequence, the Mississippi Valley is one of the 
largest and finest farming sections in the world. 

The effect of climate on temperament is, to us, a 
matter of daily experience, and, undoubtedly, the ex- 
cellent climate of Greece together with the temperate 
habits of the people made the Greeks a very healthy 
race. Their health and spirits had much to do with 
their personal beauty, and rendered them also judges 
of beauty in other things. In fact, they were disposed 
to think of beauty, order, and goodness as manifesta- 
tions of one and the same thing. We are therefore 
not surprised to find that their word for the world 
was "kosmos" (order). 



( 345 ) 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 17 



HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND 
INFLUENCES 

In the preceding sections, an attempt has been 
made to show that natural surroundings will give a 
bias to man's history, and at first sight it would appear 
that historical geography should proceed region by 
region, and trace their eflFects on mankind ; but as 
" growth " is vital to real acquisition, it will on the 
whole be found most profitable to take an evolutionary 
rather than a regional basis for our framework. 

This will be found to give "movement" to the sub- 
ject, and assist its proper appreciation. Such movement 
will tend to bring the questions under the conditions 
which John Stuart Mill demands for perception: "we 
only know anything by knowing it as distinguished 
from something else; all consciousness is of difference; 
two objects are the smallest number required to con- 
stitute consciousness; a thing is only seen to be what 
it is by contrast with what it is not ". 

The evolutionary framework will change the pro- 
blems from statical to dynamical, and will make the 
teacher less liable to the danger of approaching his 
subject from the side of generalized truths. It will 
also have advantages of its own, since it will impart 
concreteness and colouring, and enforce the idea that 
the proper study of mankind is man. 

But a wide interpretation should be claimed for 
" historical " evidence. The records of books are only 
a small part of its province. Dr. Johnson blundered 
when he said : "All that is really known of the ancient 
state of Britain is contained in a few pages. We can 
know no more than what the old writers have told 
us." While he was speaking there was stored in the 

(0345) 2 



1 8 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Sloane Museum, a rude flint weapon and an elephant's 
tooth, which had been found together near the very 
spot where he Hved. To one who could read aright 
their association was testimony of the highest value. 

It will occur to most, that geological evidences can 
never be lightly set aside, but much can also be traced 
in the departments of etymology and mythology, re- 
ligious beliefs and literature. 

In Sanskrit writings we can by inference trace the 
Aryan descent on India after long periods of settled 
life and migrations. The wonderment of the Aryans, 
on emerging from the winding mountain passes on 
the North-west of India and beholding the bounding 
Indus with its frequently storm -tossed waters, is 
clearly shown in their poetical compositions. 

Their conception of Heaven and Earth is given in 
words meaning the " Brilliant " and the " Broad ", the 
latter taking us back to a time anterior to their descent 
on the Punjab, which was specially distinguished as a 
land bounded by towering peaks and steep-sided ridges. 

The most prominent natural phenomena were re- 
garded as deities, and the Sky and Sun designated by 
words which denoted respectively the "Coverer" and 
the ^' Friend ". Moreover they were spoken of as the 
sons of boundless time and space. 

The cosmic order or law which regulated the move- 
ments of the sun, moon, and stars, and the alternation 
of the seasons, was the same which manifested itself 
in the moral world as Truth and Right. 

" Fire " was man's most intimate friend, and the 
mediator through whom in the sacrificial fires constant 
intercourse between gods and men was maintained. 

The most essential need for India's physical welfare 
is the timely arrival and beneficent violence of the 
south-western monsoons which are shattered against 
the strong breast of the Himalayas, and thus discharge 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 19 

their torrents of rain. Hence the Aryans of old made 
" Indra " the Thunderer and " Maruts " the Storm- 
winds, their friends and helpers. Cloudland was the 
" Middle Region " where their precious " cows " the 
clouds were fought for. Herein probably lies the 
strange superstitious reverence for the cow, which, 
according to poetic fancy, was reproduced in the sky, 
in the form of clouds whose udders pour down on 
man, animals, and plants the life-giving showers. 

The Scandinavian mythical beliefs bear the striking 
impress of their natural surroundings. Scandinavia is 
not only in summer the "Land of the Midnight Sun", 
but it is also in winter the land of the missing sun. 
This will explain why its inhabitants watch with 
intense eagerness for the return of the day when the 
sun will start once more on his journey back towards 
the northern hemisphere. 

The season of Yule-tide, which marked this event, 
was celebrated with fervent rejoicings, and the fir tree 
which, like the inhabitants themselves, had braved the 
winter's frost, was taken into their homes, and illu- 
minated in honour of the world's great luminary; 
while in anticipation of the sun's gifts, gifts were made 
from one person to another. 

Special branches of human enquiry have frequently 
rooted themselves in particular localities. The annual 
obliteration of all neighbours' landmarks on the overflow 
of the Nile, necessitated a system of survey which 
gave birth to the scientific study of geometry by the 
Egyptians. 

Astronomical investigation could with great advan- 
tage be pursued on the level areas of south-western 
Asia, the country between the Nile and the Euphrates. 
This land possessed a marvellously transparent atmos- 
phere and serene sky. Its climate was free from sudden 
variations. As in other Eastern climes Nature nightly 



20 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

provided it with a striking exhibition in the vivid 
sparkling of the stars, as contrasted v^ith the darkness 
of unoccupied space. 

The pastoral occupations of its inhabitants requiring 
constant vigilance by night as vi^ell as by day helped 
to stimulate the interrogation of the heavenly bodies. 
Moreover to the traveller across the great Oriental 
deserts, a knowledge of the stars was essential as 
compensation for the paucity of the natural landmarks. 
From the Book of Job, we gather how the heavenly 
bodies had attracted the watchful observance of early 
mankind. 

When we look at the natural features of Arabia, we 
are not surprised that the Mohammedan idea of eternal 
bliss was the conception of unending sensuous delight, 
which was undoubtedly the complete antithesis to the 
privations accompanying life in their harsh inhuman 
desert. 



THE MISSION OF THE STORY-TELLER 

A glance at the early history of the world will show 
that the art of story-telling has in modern days fallen 
into the background. This is, no doubt, largely due 
to the wide field which printed books now occupy, but 
for the teacher who is willing and able to revive the 
art in his own daily round, there is abundant reward 
in the increased interest with which his efforts will 
be crowned. 

The literature in the Bible, from this standpoint, is 
most noteworthy. He who was called the " Great 
Teacher" taught the necessity of using parables in 
order to secure the seeing eye and the hearing ear. 

A careful analysis of the art of story-telling will 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 21 

reveal the power possessed by the human voice, by 
suitable gesture and word pictures. This should be 
supplemented by painted and printed illustrations. 

Language and voice intonation should be alike 
musical, having in mind the greatest of all works 
which were interpreted by the human voice — the 
Psalms and the works of Homer. Gesture, like 
language and voice intonation, should be characterized 
by simplicity and naturalness, each being the direct 
outcome of the thoroughness with which the teacher 
has worked up his materials, and produced in them 
the greatest possible concreteness and colouring. 

The whole will depend on the power of the ima- 
gination, and the stress which we have attached to 
associative work will find its highest exemplification 
and scope in this field of story-telling. 

Geography and History must ever be calling in the 
aid of the imagination. Even the most favourably 
placed child has relatively a narrow range of actual 
experience with which to form a basis for a further 
knowledge of man on the earth ; and so we must 
extend his restricted observations by the use of pictures, 
models, and maps. In this way he will be able to 
utilize his mental possessions, and reconstruct them 
by the imaginative process. 

The efficiency of the process can be estimated by 
the result. Does the mental picture partake of the 
elements of reality, is it really a thinking in shape, 
or are its details confused and blurred? 

Yet the value of the process is such that no effort 
should be spared in order to secure its full benefit, 
and this entails considerable thought and preparation 
on the part of the teacher. 

In the first place, there must be the selection of 
suitable matter, and this is provided through story- 
telling, whereby the absent is called into being, and 



22 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the distant brought near. Next there is the choice 
of suitable language, and frequently teachers who can 
forecast the type of the story which is suitable to the 
child's stage of development, fail completely when 
they try to clothe their ideas, for their vocabulary 
is unknown to the child. Something is wanted in 
addition to simplicity. There must be the provision 
of the picturesque and the concrete, and in trying 
to acquire the power of painting-in-words no pains 
can be considered too great. 

Side by side with the constrution of word-pictures, the 
teacher will introduce his scholars to Nature's scenes 
and painted pictures, remembering always that it is 
not sufficient to place the pictures before the bodily 
eyes of the children, who will only be able to see 
just up to the point where their stage of knowledge 
has landed them. 

After impressions have been gathered, there must 
come the opportunities for " expressive " work, first 
through some adaptable material, such as plasticene, 
then through the brush or pencil, and then through 
language, oral and written. For the teacher's im- 
mediate purpose in finding out how far the impressions 
have been gained, oral exercises in composition are 
often more suggestive than written ; for tone, em- 
phasis, or gesture will frequently be called into service 
when suitable words are lacking. 

No better material can be found for the training 
and direction of the child's imagination than the 
stories of man in many climes. The teacher himself 
must first of all see his pictures standing out in clear- 
cut features, for not till then can he hope to make 
his descriptions "live" in the minds of the children. 

He need not concern himself with the dry details 
as to the size of the earth, and the positions of the 
different climatic zones, but start straightway into the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 23 

concrete and the picturesque, so that the children may 
conjure up before them the strange sights, and actu- 
ally participate in them. 

We may make the order of presentation follow the 
incidence of the seasons, so that the standards of our 
own climate may be applied. 

We take the Eskimo and the Laplander as repre- 
sentative of those who dwell amid ice and snow, and 
visit them in the winter time when their land is alto- 
gether in the grip of Jack Frost. We see how the 
Eskimos have built their huts of snow, and placed 
sheets of ice for the windows, or maybe, taken stones 
and sods, and after making a hole in the ground built 
up a hut of alternate layers. 

We step inside and are struck by the absence of 
chimneys and fireplace. Ventilation appears to have 
been entirely overlooked, but no, there is just one 
small hole at the top. We notice how the people are 
deprived of the sun's cheery rays, and the inside of 
their huts shows still further how their comforts are 
restricted. They are dependent on their lamps for 
lighting, heating, and cooking. 

We comment on the dirt of their huts, and notice 
how like they are to little children in cold weather, 
they have a decided aversion to the use of water for 
washing themselves. 

We admire their cleverness in the construction of 
their kayaks, the shuttle -shaped canoes, which are 
made of wood and whalebone, and covered with 
hairless sealskins. We see how these kayaks are so 
closely decked over, that when the kayakers are seated 
in them, they may even overturn and yet ship no 
water. We watch a kayaker guide his frail boat 
along the edge of the water in search of seals, and 
we see him land, pick up his craft with one hand, 
and carry it along with ease. 



24 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

We go with him as he collects the drift wood along 
the shore, and see him make from this the sledge wherein 
he can ride over the ice-fields drawn by his dogs. 

We are with him when the sun returns once more 
to his land, and watch him remove his winter's hut, 
erect the bell-shaped tent, and cover it with seal- and 
bear-skins. 

Now we pass on to the Laplanders, and associate 
them at every step with the reindeer. Before the 
children's minds, we picture a land where all traces 
of vegetation are buried for three-quarters of the year 
beneath the snow, and we watch the reindeer searching 
below it for his moss. 

We admire this animal's manifold uses. It is the 
beast of draught. It provides the household with 
milk. When killed, its flesh is used for food, its 
horns and bones for implements, its sinews for thread, 
and its skin for clothing and shelter. Its own mi- 
grations in search of food actually determine the 
shifting of their quarters by the Lapps. 

As a contrast to the cold lands, we take the regions 
which are parched by heat. We picture the course of 
the winds, which when they started on their course 
were laden with moisture from the ocean, and have been 
robbed on their way by the highlands which stood in 
their road. If we start with the Sahara Desert, we 
depict the great expanse of waste land, with a surface 
that is usually sandy or stony. 

We note the awful stillness and the monotony of 
the scene. Yet we cannot but be struck with the 
beautiful compensations of colour, the deep-blue sky, 
the orange sand, lustrous in the sunlight, and we pause 
to give a description of the curious optical effects. 
We see the sand storm with its prodigious pillars of 
sand, and portray the burning simoom, which threatens 
suffocation to all forms of animal life. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 25 

With a feeling of relief we turn to the oases, the 
stepping-stones across the desert, and watch the pain- 
ful progress of the caravan, as it toils onwards, looking 
anxiously for the first signs of the cooling shade and 
refreshing fruit of the date palm. 

Our next lessons may take up the Bedouin Arabs. 
We introduce our scholars to the thin meagre figures 
whose wandering life has induced some curious manner- 
isms. We look at them as they gesticulate. We mark 
their irritable and fiery nature, and their noisy conver- 
sation. 

Yet we find that they have a side that we can ad- 
mire. They are ever true to their bread and salt. 
Eat with them and you have once and for all cemented 
the bond of friendship. Look at them on their noble 
steeds, and see what a warm place in their hearts they 
always retain for these companions in all their adventures. 

We sit with the Arabs in front of their tents, and see 
them listening to the tales of the professed story-tellers, 
tales which may last for sixty, yea, even for a hundred 
successive nights. 

When we are dealing with dry lands, we turn aside, 
and catch a passing glimpse of the Holy Land, where 
on one occasion the drought brought into relief a most 
striking character of Scriptural History. We think 
of many Biblical references which picture the heat 
wherein "the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth", 
and we see the appreciation of the fatigued traveller 
when he reaches " the shadow of a great rock in a 
weary land". 

We rejoice with the inhabitants, as we see the 
welcome rain fall, and the vegetation spring up, the 
"desert blossoming as the rose". We see the material 
basis of the wish of the Shepherd-King for the peace 
and contentment beside " the green pastures and the 
still waters". 



26 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

We now pass on to Egypt, and notice the narrow 
strip of fertile soil with the arid desert on either side. 
We watch the Nile during April, May, and June as it 
falls and falls. We see the universal shrinkage and 
withering. The fields become parched and seamed 
with fissures. The air is charged with dust, the crops 
lose their brilliant green, the trees shed their leaves. 
Man and beast share in the general languor. 

We follow the fiery sun day by day, as he plods his 
pitiless course, seeming determined to restore the tiny 
strip to the vast desert which lies on either side. 

But in due season a message is flashed down. The 
river is rising in its upper reaches. It is some days be- 
fore the effect is felt near the mouth, but little by little 
the water begins to rise, till, by the middle of August, 
it has risen some twenty feet ; and whereas six weeks 
before, the river hardly made its presence heard, it now 
roars and rushes along, prepared to sweep everything 
from its path. See the Nile in the middle of September 
when its waters look like one huge lake. Everything 
now rejoices, crops, cattle, men. In some such way 
as this we get our children to realize that Egypt is the 
"gift of the Nile". 

Space forbids us to develop, in detail, the survey of 
the earth in this way, but by such descriptions as here 
given, we lead up to the generalized ideas that the 
climate will determine what plants will grow in any 
given area, that man's occupation will depend on the 
land in which he lives, and that the two most im- 
portant material wants — food and clothing — will depend 
ultimately on animal and plant life. In hot countries 
the dependence will be on the side of the plants, in 
cold countries on the side of the animals, while in 
the temperate climes, man will have to rely on both 
sources. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 27 



THE HOLY LAND (Part I) 

The arbitrary character of the land divisions we call 
continents can be seen by considering Arabia. In its 
geographical grouping it is classed with the countries 
of Asia, yet in its surface characteristics it is but an 
extension of the great desert of Northern Africa. 

Just as Egypt is the gift of the Nile, made at the 
expense of the Libyan Desert, so Palestine or the Holy 
Land is the gift of the mountains and the sea, made 
at the expense of the Arabian Desert, for the hills 
which run parallel to the Levant coast intercept the 
moisture which is carried by winds from the " Great 
Sea". 

Between Egypt and Palestine is a district which is 
a striking contrast to both. It is the Sinaitic Penin- 
sula, the cradle and the birthplace of the Israelitish 
nation. The IsraeHtes left Egypt a horde of slaves. 
They issued from the peninsula of Sinai, fused and 
welded into a coherent whole. The prevailing char- 
acteristic of the latter region is its impressive monotony. 
At certain seasons of the year, a thin veil of green is 
spread over portions of the soil where a few wells of 
brackish water can be found. 

Elsewhere is a wilderness of bare rocks, cut up by 
wadies of sterile sand, gravel, and marl, monotonous, 
apparently unchangeable. In the south of the penin- 
sula is a chaos of mountain peaks, where tempests of 
frightful violence often rage. Lightning leaps from 
crag to crag, while the peals of thunder shake the 
earth. These were the impressive scenes amid which 
the Israelites were assembled to receive the Law, whose 
dominant note was : " Thou shalt not ". 

By journeying along the two sides of the Sinaitic 



28 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

triangle the Israelites approached the Land of Promise 
on the east of the Jordan, but the ordinary route from 
Egypt to the Holy Land lay along the coast, and this 
was important, because Palestine stood on the high- 
way between Egypt and Mesopotamia. 

Palestine's intermediate position is the explanation 
of the problems of its foreign policy at certain stages 
of its history. Should it look to Egypt or to Babylon 
for an alliance ? 

The danger of absorption by its more powerful 
neighbours would have been a very real one for 
Palestine, had it not been for its uplands. The hosts 
of Egypt on their march to Assyria, and the armies 
of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia on their way to Egypt, 
passed along the plain which fringed the coast, with- 
out concerning themselves with the hill country along 
which the cities were placed. 

The establishment of the heart of the land away 
from the seashore was part of a deliberate policy of 
the Israelites for their security. Isaiah's description 
of Zion was a place " wherein shall go no galley 
with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby " (Is. 
xxxiii, 2i). 

The conception of the new heavens and the new 
earth which concludes the Apocalypse involved the 
complete eHmination of the sea. (Rev. xxi, i.) 

As the direct contrast to the sea, the highlands were 
the assurance of safety. " I will lift up mine eyes to 
the hills from whence cometh my help"; and again: 
" The mountains shall bring peace to the people ". 

The protection afforded by Palestine's hills appears 
more striking when we keep in mind the comparatively 
narrow extent of the land, varying from 70 to 100 
miles. This breadth is divided into four parallel strips, 
the coast plain, the hill country, the Jordan valley, 
and the eastern plateau. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 29 

The " hill country " is divided into distinct sections 
by the Plain of Esdraelon, through which winds the 
river Kishon, and whose position is also determined 
by the summit of Mount Carmel. 

The division indicated in the surface by the position 
of the Plain of Esdraelon is that which marks the two 
distinct sections of the coast line. Northwards there 
were natural harbours formed among the feet of the 
mountains which there reached down to the sea, and 
these were quite large enough for the needs of ancient 
navigators. Southwards, the line of sand and cliflF 
made an unbroken stretch right up to the very mouths 
of the Nile. 

One of the most striking features of the land was 
the valley of the Jordan. This river itself is without 
a parallel in the world. Flowing from the hills of the 
north, some thousand feet above the sea level, it first 
descends to the Sea of Galilee, some 600 feet below 
the surface of the Mediterranean, and then makes a 
further fall of 666 feet to end in the Dead Sea, the 
very deepest part of the Old World. The river thus 
rightly earns for itself the name of Jordan, that is the 
" Descender ". 

In the great depression in which the Dead Sea lies, 
the heat of the Syrian sun is felt there with its fiercest 
intensity, and as the sea has no outlet, evaporation is 
most rapid. Thus it is that the Dead Sea is ex- 
tremely salt. 

The configuration of Palestine made it a land of 
the most varied flora and fauna. In the north, the 
lofty peaks of Lebanon and Hermon which are rarely 
free from snow are distinguished by their sub-Alpine 
vegetation. In the deep valley of the Dead Sea, the 
tropical climate and productions resemble those of 
Equatorial Africa. 

Thus the country was one of striking contrasts, and 



30 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

it has been said that there is no land or nation in the 
world which does not find something of itself reflected 
there. 

The corn-growing plains of Philistia led into the 
sandy unprofitable " desert of the south ". The land 
of the vine, olive, and figs passed almost imperceptibly 
into the barren wilderness of Judea. The downs of 
Moab and Gilead with their abundant pasturage was 
bordered by the dry and thirsty land of the great 
eastern wilderness. 



THE HOLY LAND (Part II) 

The variety of the surface of the Holy Land will 
account for much of its internal history. It became 
like Greece a land of tribes. Moreover the more 
difficult hill country enabled the non-Israelitish peoples 
to defy dispossession. 

Again the fact that the Israelites shrank from occupy- 
ing the maritime plain, allowed the old inhabitants the 
chance of establishing themselves firmly there. In the 
north, the Phoenicians held their ground in the portion 
that was allotted to Asher, nay, more, the northern 
tribes entered into friendly relations with them, and 
this intercourse served to pervert them from the pure 
worship of Jehovah, and accounts for their early re- 
moval into captivity. 

In the south, the Philistines occupied the maritime 
plain, and indicated their association with the sea in 
their worship of Dagon the " fish god ". The country 
east of the Jordan was a wide tableland clothed with 
rich grass and dotted with the remains of primeval 
forests. Here the Moabites held their ground as a 
pastoral people, paying tribute from their herds when 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 31 

the Israelites were powerful enough to enforce such. 
Near by, lay the land of Bashan. 

The Israelites, approaching the land from the east, 
after their wanderings in the wilderness, could not 
fail to be struck with the value of the plains of Gilead 
for sheep runs, and Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe 
of Manasseh made out a case for its allocation to 
them. 

Reuben, taking the southern portion which shaded 
off into the desert, was unable to hold his own, and 
thus fulfilled Jacob's words, " Unstable as water thou 
shalt not excel ". 

The other tribes had their inheritance west of 
Jordan. To Asher was allotted the sea-coast from 
Carmel to Sidon, one of the richest tracts in Pales- 
tine. Herein was fulfilled the blessing of Jacob that 
Asher's "bread" should be "fat" and that his shoes 
should be "iron and brass", the latter allusion probably 
referring to the workings in metal of the Phoenicians. 

To Naphtali was given the broad elevated track 
between the land of Asher and the Jordan, a fruit- 
ful land which complied with his blessing "satisfied 
with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord ". 

To Zabulon was assigned the land from the sea- 
shore to the Sea of Galilee. His blessing foretold 
that he was to dwell at the haven of the sea, at the 
"going out" and was "to suck of the abundance of 
the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sand". The 
"going out" probably refers to Acre which is placed 
on a projecting headland forming the northern ex- 
tremity of the great bay that sweeps round to Carmel 
on the south. It was called by no less an authority 
than Napoleon Buonaparte, the "key of Palestine". 
The treasures of the sand probably refer to the 
fisheries which supplied the purple Tyrian dye. 

Issachar received for his inheritance the productive 



32 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

plain of Esdraelon, the highway of the armies of Egypt 
and Assyria, and thus seeing "that the land was 
pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became 
a servant to tribute". 

In the call-to-arms of Deborah, Asher " continued 
on the sea-shore and abode in the creeks" while 
Naphtali, Zabulon, and Issachar who were more 
directly concerned in driving the Kings of Canaan 
from the hill country "jeoparded their lives unto 
the death". 

The beautiful middle province of Palestine was divided 
between the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the 
sons of Joseph who was to be a "fruitful bough, 
even a fruitful bough by a wall, whose branches 
ran over the wall". 

The southern province of Judea was divided among 
the remaining tribes, Dan, Benjamin, Judah, and 
Simeon. The territory of Dan extended to the sea- 
coast, and like Asher, in a time of peril, "Dan re- 
mained in ships". Yet as the occasion often creates 
the man, it was from the members of the tribe of 
Dan who were the neighbours of the Philistines that 
there arose Samson, the chief antagonist of that nation. 

The land of Judah was a strange contrast to the 
middle province. It was as bare and repellent as 
Samaria was open, smiling, and fertile. Thus Judah 
was a land of shepherds, and of the strenuous life. 
Its eastern border was the wilderness which fringed 
the western shores of the Dead Sea, a dreary waste 
of bare hills cut up by innumerable water-courses, 
where David evaded the vengeful hate of King Saul. 

The tribe of Simeon had its lot on the edge of the 
southern desert, and soon faded away. Its members 
became "divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel". 
It then fell to Judah to guard the southern frontier, 
and so well was the task fulfilled, that Judah was 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 33 

never dislodged save in the ruin of the whole nation. 
In a wild country, which was more than half a 
wilderness, and the haunts of savage beasts, " he 
stooped down, he couched as a lion, as an old lion, 
who shall rouse him up?" 

What Judah was as a district, Jerusalem was as a 
city. The mountains, we are told, were " round about 
Jerusalem", the reference being to the protection afforded 
by the hills which were cut by a thousand ravines 
and thus hindered approach to the " City of the Great 
King". It was in these natural defences that the 
Jebusites put their trust, boasting to David "Thou wilt 
not come in hither, the blind and lame shall drive thee 
back". Its strategic importance may be gathered 
from the fact that in the fifteen centuries of Bible 
history, Jerusalem underwent 17 sieges, and in this 
respect stands without a parallel in the annals of 
any city, ancient or modern. It was thus a concrete 
embodiment of faith. 

" They that trust in the Lord shall be even as Mount 
Zion which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever." 



THE NATURAL FEATURES OF THE HOLY 
LAND IN JEWISH POETRY 

Nature is the poet's treasury, wherein he may find 
great wealth of material to clothe his emotions and 
express his thoughts. For an extended range in 
imagination, it is essential that there be varied and 
numerous types of beauty. In a land of tame and 
monotonous natural features, poetry of a high order 
has never been produced. Its most congenial atmo- 
sphere is a land where the changing aspects of earth 
( 345 ) 3 



34 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

and sky are in accord with the blended light and 
shade of human life. Such essentially was the land 
of David and Isaiah. 

Where the Hebrew poet seems to disappoint us by 
his brief and momentary conceptions, we must re- 
member that he was constantly looking beyond Nature 
to Nature's God. 

He looked beyond the fact to the purpose of that 
fact : " The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, 
and so are the stony rocks for the conies". The 
sun and the moon were the great time-pieces of the 
world. Light and darkness were the times of men's 
and beasts' activities respectively. 

Our immediate purpose is to read simply the natural 
features of the land. The marvellous combination 
which the land exhibited in sea and shore, lowland 
and upland, wilderness and pastures, afforded the 
material for the parallels of Psalm 95. God has in 
His hand the " deep places of the earth" and to Him 
belongs the "strength of the hills also". By creative 
right the sea is His, and the dry land. The people 
are the sheep of His pasture and should hear His voice, 
remembering the trials of the desert and the mercy 
which brought them to the land of rest. 

The alternations of victory and defeat in the conflict 
between the Nile and the desert were symbolized 
in Egyptian mythology by the strife between Osiris 
and Typhon. The Hebrews saw the hand of God 
in all such changes. " He turneth the wilderness into 
a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings." 

Again no better imagery could have expressed the 
promise of future glory and blessing than : 

" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for 
them ; and the desert shall blossom as the rose". 

The desert as the negation of activities was the place 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 35 

of rest. " O that I had wings like a dove, then 
would I wander far off and remain in the wilderness." 

Of equal importance with the rain was the gift 
of the dew which for many months came to refresh 
the earth. Its vivifying eflFect made it a fitting symbol 
for national union and brotherhood which was like 
the " dew of Hermon ". 

But under the fierce glare of the Syrian sun, the 
dew is soon evaporated, and this is made emblematic 
of mere impulsive goodness : — 

" O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? 
O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? 
For thy goodness is as a morning cloud, 
And as an early dew it goeth away." ( Hosea vi, 4.) 

The poets of Palestine show an accurate appreciation 
for the trees of their country. A powerful emblem 
of kingly majesty was supplied by the cedar tree, 
which from its height, the dignified sweep of its 
branches, and the remoteness of its home on the 
slopes of Lebanon, formed an object of frequent re- 
ferences. It was essentially the "Tree of Jehovah", 
and was the most suitable material for the courts 
of His House. 

In contrast with the cedar was the lowly reed or 
rush growing by the riverside, the emblem of 
insecurity or humility. 

" Can the papyrus grow up without mire ? 
Can the reed live without water ? 
While yet green, it is cut down. 
And before other grasses it is dry." 

Again : 

" The bruised reed. He shall not break. 
The smoking flax. He shall not quench". 



36 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The atmospheric conditions of the east differ from 
those of our northern lands. The stars, as seen there, 
do not "faint and die", but retire hastily as the sun 
appears. In contrast with this, the Greeks personified 
the Dawn as Eos (Aurora), taking reluctant leave each 
morning of her husband Tithonus and drawing back 
the veil from heaven till Phoebus strode forth for his 
march. 

This eastern lack of twilight will help to explain 
some Bible references. The characteristic Hebrew 
sunrise is used to describe sudden prosperity in the 
words : 

" Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, 
And thine health shall spring forth speedily ". 

The Syrian sunset is also unlike those of northern 
latitudes. It is not a display of gorgeous colours. 
Hence Hebrew poetry is lacking in allusions to it. 
Sunset, however, is associated with the evening breeze 
which brings with it refreshing coolness, whose failure 
to appear is made a picture of frustrated hopes : 

" The evening breeze for which I longed hath He turned 
into horror". 

But any colour which was lacking in the sunset is 
compensated for in the magnificent panorama of the 
heavens at night. "The heavens declare the glory 
of God." No wonder then that to the watchers 
they seemed to be chanting incessantly the praises 
of their Almighty Creator : 

" The morning stars sang together. 
And all the sons of God shouted for joy". 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 37 



THE EARLIEST NAVIGATORS 

Paradoxical as it may appear, a teacher's effective 
work may be most accurately measured by the amount 
of activity which he produces in his pupils. Nature, 
the great teacher, in a similar way, confers the greatest 
benefits on mankind when she stimulates effort. 

Our own English climate will illustrate this truth, 
for though its direct effect is to invoke on itself 
showers of abuse, yet its indirect effect is to call forth 
the bull -dog tenacity which is characteristic of the 
English as a race. 

The effect of natural surroundings on a people is 
seen with equal clearness in the history of the Phoe- 
nicians, which closely followed the course indicated 
by Nature and is of especial interest to us, because 
in the conquest of the world, not by force of arms 
but by the friendly intercourse which arises through 
commerce, the English of the latest centuries are a 
replica of the Phoenicians of old. 

The homeland of the Phoenicians is the essence of 
narrowness, a mere strip on the eastern shores of the 
Mediterranean. The restrictions of the district were 
occasioned by the near approach to the coast of the 
Mountains of Lebanon, so near, that the streams 
coming from them had no room for easy and graceful 
descents, but had to tumble over the rocky ledges right 
into the sea. The stint in land space necessitated 
oversea expansion. 

Nature gave for this the means as well as the in- 
ducements. Between the feet of the hills, the harbours 
were many and good, quite suitable for the smaller 
Mediterranean craft. The hinterland supplied ex- 
cellent materials for shipbuilding. The "fir-trees of 



38 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Senir", the "cedars of Lebanon", and the "oaks of 
Bashan " were called into requisition as mentioned 
by the prophet Ezekiel. 

The islands of the Mediterranean allowed of a 
series of easy sailing stages. Cyprus was a stepping- 
stone to Rhodes and Crete. Avoiding the inhospitable 
shores marked by the Syrtes, the Phoenicians reached 
Sicily and passed by way of Sardinia and the Balearic 
Islands to the eastern shores of Spain. 

It was Nature again that lured the Phoenicians 
forward on their great maritime discoveries and ex- 
plorations. They had found a valuable commercial 
product in the dyeing substance which was contained 
in a tiny shell-fish. The dye furnished by each was 
so microscopical in quantity that these early mariners, 
in order to secure a sufficient supply, had to follow 
their quarry to the bays and gulfs bordering the 
iEgean Sea, to the coasts of Sicily and Northern 
Africa, and indeed throughout the whole extent of 
the Mediterranean. 

This purple-dye mussel actually promoted the for- 
mation of colonies. For it was obviously easier to 
extract the dye on the spot, and leave the deadweight 
of shells behind, than to carry both back to head- 
quarters. 

Of the early Phoenician colonies, the most important 
were on the islands of Cyprus and Crete, the former 
being especially valuable, on account of its stores of 
copper, which gave the name to the island. For in 
those days before the difficulty of working iron had 
been surmounted, bronze was the staple metal for 
implements of every kind. Bronze is an alloy of 
copper and tin, and the latter is less plentifully supplied 
by Nature than the former. 

For a time the Phoenicians obtained their supplies of 
tin in the neighbouring mountainous regions of the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 39 

Taurus, but this supply was soon exhausted. They 
then tapped the sources in the Caucasus Mountains, 
sailing along the shores of the Black Sea, and later 
discovered what was for many centuries the richest 
of their possessions, the land of Tarshish, in the south 
of Spain. 

It is probable that tin from Cornwall and Devon 
soon after came into their hands, even before their 
mariners had been able to reach our land over the 
sea. The metal was carried up the Seine, and trans- 
ferred by a short land journey to the Saone, whence it 
found its way to the mouth of the Rhone. 

Another commodity in which these early merchants 
traded was the yellow amber of the Baltic, which 
from its scarcity, and the mystery which surrounded 
its source, commanded an extravagant price. In 
ancient times, amber was found ofF the coasts of Ger- 
many, and was carried thence by caravans across 
Germany to the head of the Adriatic. 

In later days, as civilization flowed westwards, the 
Phoenician colony of Carthage, which aflPorded ready 
contact with Italy through Sicily, outstripped its 
parent, and when it was conquered by the Romans, 
the fruits of its labours were transferred to the same 
hands. 

Huxley's phrase of " colossal pedlars " aptly de- 
scribes the Phoenicians. They strove solely for their 
own material gain, but by a wise and invariable dis- 
pensation, the selfish endeavours of the individual are 
made to redound to the advantage of the many. The 
greatest benefit conferred by the Phoenicians was their 
adaptation of the alphabet, which they employed to 
assist their bookkeeping. To this " shorthand " 
method we trace the ready means of storing up from 
age to age the world's mental wealth. 

The special mission of the Phoenicians in human 



40 



THE ASSOCIATION OF 



history is indirectly of the highest value. We cannot 
accord them the honour which belongs to pure and 
unselfish motives, yet though the work of the trader 
is materialistic and unsuited to the growth of virtues, 
it stimulates movement and enquiry, which are at 
the base of all progress. 

To the Greeks we owe the grand conception which 
associated beauty and goodness, to the Romans we 
owe the conception of power arising from political 
organization, but it is doubtful whether the triumphs 
of Greece and Rome would have been possible, had 
it not been for the labours of the " colossal pedlars ". 



EARLY MIGRATIONS 

Life manifests itself in movement. This is sub- 
stantially true, whether the reference is made to the 
life of the community or to the life of the individual, 
and one aspect of tribal and communal vigour is 
illustrated in the process by which the whole earth 
has been overspread. 

This process has been accelerated in modern times, 
according as man's facilities for locomotion have in- 
creased, but tracing the movement back to the earliest 
ages we are naturally met by the questions : Is there 
a centre from which men started on their path of 
appropriation? and if there is, along what paths have 
they travelled ? 

Such questions land us in prehistoric times, and we 
have to rely for our answers on the indirect evidence 
afforded by a comparison of diflPerent languages and 
religious beliefs, and on the light shed by philology, 
geology, and the materials of excavations. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 41 

Roughly one-half of the world's population has been 
furnished from the people who are designated Aryans, 
whose original home, according to the latest theories, 
was probably in the East of Europe, in the land 
between the Carpathians and the Volga. 

From records crystallized in language we may con- 
struct a picture of the Aryans — their family life, 
their agricultural operations, their cattle, their arts, 
and their religious beliefs. 

The Greeks were among the first to leave this hive 
of nations, and they settled upon the eastern isles and 
peninsulas of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The early tribes which built up later the world- 
wide Roman Empire trace their ancestry to the same 
Aryan source. Similarly the Celts who appropriated 
England, Ireland, and France belong to the same 
family. 

The Teutons, probably following later on their 
journey of seeking " fresh fields and pastures new ", 
had to content themselves with the more inhospitable 
forest lands of the modern Germany. Their share was 
characterized by bleakness of climate and infertility 
of soil. But these were for them only blessings in 
disguise, for they refused to accept in silence their 
share, or to acknowledge the equity of the general 
partition. 

Their dissatisfaction showed itself in constant in- 
cursions on the lands of their neighbours, and whether 
under the name of Frank or Suevi, Goth or Vandal, 
A^ngle or Saxon, Longobard or Norseman, we see 
in them the same roving unsettled disposition which 
in later years dazzled the world in the conquests which 
followed the break-up of the Roman Empire, in the 
conquests of the Norsemen, and still later in the globe- 
covered settlements of the Anglo-Saxons. 

The earlier waves of migrations seemed to have 



42 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

usually succumbed to those of later birth. The 
Latins were forced southwards for a time down their 
own Italian Peninsula by the Celts who established 
themselves in the basin of the Po. 

The Celts were themselves driven westwards by the 
oncoming Teutons. 

Apparently there was a residue of the Aryans left 
in the lands north of the Black Sea, an unambitious 
contented section glad to resign themselves to whatever 
favours fortune was pleased to bestow. This was 
probably the nucleus of the Slav race, whose lack 
of enterprise became the handmaid to servility. 

Among the peoples of Asia, the Iranians inhabiting 
Persia, and the Hindus of Hindustan, are branches of 
the Aryan peoples. 

The numerically-strong Turanian race demands a 
passing reference. Originating probably in Turkestan, 
its members appear to have moved eastwards towards 
China and Japan, following the " grain " of the land. 
Pursuing their course along the valleys of the Yang- 
tze-kiang and the Hoang-ho, they developed in the 
valleys of these rivers the ancient Chinese civilizations. 

Geographical factors there as elsewhere moulded 
the various sections. The Mongolians in Tartary 
became nomads from the poverty of the soil. The 
Mongols on the shores became seafarers, while their 
fellows in the rich lands of south China from the 
rapidity with which they grew and multiplied became 
subservient toilers, yielding unquestioning obedience 
to the dominant nobility. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 43 



THE EARLY GREEKS 

The fluctuating character of the interaction between 
Man and his natural surroundings adds considerably 
to the complexity of the conditions which we have to 
diagnose, for we can never be quite sure that we are 
giving due weight to the various causal factors. 

Racial distinctions have never been satisfactorily 
explained from considerations of environment, and 
it is therefore of advantage to iind cases like the 
Grecian states, where Nature's influences can be 
more accurately determined. 

But early Greece has suggestive external as well as 
internal problems. Its position, relative to the civil- 
ization of the Persians and Assyrians, Babylonians, and 
Semitic peoples, the Egyptians and the Romans, made 
it specially susceptible to the developments around, and 
this position was strengthened by the islands which 
gave it access to diflPerent nations. 

Through the islands of the ^Egean Sea it was linked 
to the land routes leading to Assyria and Persia, through 
Cyprus it had contact with the Phoenicians, through 
Crete it could pass to Egypt, through the Ionian 
Islands and Sicily it could hold communications with 
the Italian peninsula. 

The JEge2in Islands in a double sense assisted navi- 
gation. Through them, the land configuration can be 
traced from Greece to Asia Minor, as will be best 
appreciated by following the line through Cythera, 
Crete, and Rhodes. The sea fills the place of sub- 
merged valleys, and the mountain islands form land- 
marks which in the transparent clearness of the 
atmosphere could be seen at great distances. 

The whole of the irregularities of the mainland can 
be traced by following the lines of the mountain ranges 



44 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

and spurs. The general tangle of the mountains is the 
clue to much of the people's history. The difficulty 
of communication by land forced the inhabitants to 
find highways by sea. Mountain and sea were graven 
deep down in their thoughts and literature. Thessaly 
is supposed by some to have derived its name from 
" thalassa " the sea, because its smooth plain was such 
a contrast to the rugged surface of the rest of conti- 
nental Greece. The vale of Tempe (cutting) through 
which the winding Peneus flowed was explained as the 
gap made by Neptune with his trident. On Pelion 
was celebrated the marriage feast of Peleus and Thetis, 
the goddess of the sea. 

The volcanic convulsions which had dotted the land 
with mountains were accounted for in the efforts of the 
Titans to pile hill upon hill in order to make war on 
the gods. The difference in the characters of Helicon 
and Cithaeron was explained by the story that they were 
two brothers who had been transformed into rocks ac- 
cording to their respective temperaments. Parnassus 
was the home of the Muses, as Olympus was the 
abode of the gods. 

The mountain ranges broke up the land into distinct 
states. In the Peloponnese, Arcadia formed a vast 
central amphitheatre with lofty and impregnable sides. 
Its surface asperities were, however, softened by its 
clear and brilliant air and skies, so that a land which 
at first betokened stern and rough influences became 
the home of people exhibiting the finer qualities. 

The soil offered but little encouragement to the 
agriculturalist. The mountain tops were covered with 
snow for a good part of the year, and the occupation 
of the inhabitants was necessarily pastoral. The leisure 
and the freedom which this pursuit allowed, together 
with the constant familiarity with beautiful landscapes, 
made Arcadia the cradle of the pastoral Muses of 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 45 

Greece. It was on the Cyllene Mountains that 
Mercury discovered the lyre, and it was Pan, the 
Arcadian deity, that invented the shepherd's flute. 

A shepherd's life is essentially of a migratory char- 
acter. The abandonment of old pastures and the 
selection of new fields are matters of everyday oc- 
currence, and this constancy of change produced a 
restlessness of character which made the Arcadians 
willing at all times to serve as mercenaries, wherever 
personal gain was assured. In this respect, the Arca- 
dians took the place or the Switzers of more modern days. 

Laconia was the province that bounded Arcadia on 
the south. It was part of the policy of Lycurgus, the 
legislator of Laconia, to dissuade his countrymen from 
surrounding their capital of Sparta with walls. No 
doubt he had in mind the fact that men, not walls, 
make the surest defence, but the physical provision 
for Laconia might have also suggested the same thing. 
The real walls of the country were its mountains, 
which gave it the title of "unassailable", and where 
no mountains were provided there was the defence 
of the sea. 

Being sheltered on three sides from the bleak winds, 
and open to the soft refreshing breezes from the south, 
Laconia had exceptional advantages of climate. Its 
low open grounds produced fruits and myrtles. The 
slopes which rose immediately from the plains were 
clothed with olives, and forests of pine covered the 
mountains whose sides were scarred with deep gullies, 
the courses of the torrents which descended headlong 
to the vale. 

The majesty of the mountain heights and the beauty 
of the rivers might well have formed the inspiration of 
the inhabitants who delighted in all forms of bodily 
exercise which a beautiful climate and a suitable place 
allowed, 



46 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Just as Sparta devoted itself to physical exercises, 
so Attica devoted its best energies to mental develop- 
ment, and its silent influences on mankind have been 
world-w^ide. Its position seems to bespeak contact with 
other civilizations. Its eastern face looked towards 
Asia, its southern shores fronted Egypt. 

For the ships of that time, the harbours which were 
to be found on its eastern and western shores were 
commodious, and by means of the islands which served 
as ports and emporiums, it could readily pass across to 
the Asiatic shores. 

Nevertheless, Attica had a serious drawback in the 
poverty of its soil. This, which at first sight appears 
a drawback, was really a blessing in disguise, for it 
compelled the inhabitants to look abroad for a living. 
It filled them with a spirit of activity which made 
them love to grapple with difiiculties and face dangers. 
Their contact with strangers made them the most 
intellectual of all the Greeks. 

Bceotia was the antithesis of Attica, both intellec- 
tually and physically. Nature indeed seemed to have 
designed a sort of balance between the two. To 
Bceotia belonged rich fields and pastures. To Attica 
was given sterile hills and cliffs. 

The difference between the peoples of the two 
states can be read in the characters of what we 
may call their national heroes, Theseus and Hercules. 
Hercules was without a peer in deeds of physical force, 
but this trait was regarded by the Athenians as one 
which should not be envied, and not even wholly 
admired. Theseus on the other hand was a states- 
man who framed laws. Hercules gave no encourage- 
ment to the arts, but Theseus was the favourite of 
Neptune, and built ships, fostered commerce, worked 
mines, and coined money. 

To the separation of the Grecian states by mountain 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 47 

ridges, we can trace directly the generation of that 
spirit of rivalry which produced in the individual the 
most strenuous efforts. But there were also what we 
may call the internal conditions of each state which 
challenged thought. There were the effects of vol- 
canic fires and earthquakes, there were the rivers 
which disappeared through the calcareous rocks, and 
the lake that periodically engulfed the surrounding 
plain. There was Nature in repose in the sky with- 
out clouds and the hills clad with the thick forests. 
There was Nature in movement in the tossing sea 
and the babbling streams. 

Moreover, the ideas received from Nature were given 
a ready channel for expression in the rich and varied 
veins of marble which the purity of the air preserved, 
so that, in the national monuments, the youth were 
taught by great examples, and the faith of all enkindled 
and invigorated. 

A natural appreciation of beauty is characteristic of 
the Greeks, and raises them at once to a' higher level 
than their fellows. Grace in outward appearance, 
beauty in form, symmetry of movement, melody in 
utterance, chastened elegance in expression, easy dignity 
in behaviour, these were the qualities which the Greeks 
prized most highly, and these were expressed in the 
" kalos kagathos " which implies that beauty and good- 
ness are in truth inseparable. 



CIVITAS ROMANORUM 

The transition from the Greeks to the Romans seems 
abrupt. The former were the students and followers of 
Nature, the latter apparently triumphed over the limi- 
tations which Nature imposed; the former developed 



48 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

strength as an aid to beauty, the latter saw in virtue 
and virility the pure embodiment of "vis" (strength). 
The former sought in the training of the individuality 
of its citizens, the highest v^elfare of the State, the 
latter stimulated in the common good (res pubHca) the 
elements of a system M^hich w^ould secure the greatest 
self-sacrifice ; the former traced Nature's harmony in 
her varied manifestations, the latter passed by differ- 
ences to reach universality, and gave to the civilized 
world the glorious conception around which to frame 
its laws. 

Yet Rome, in spite of her apparent independence 
of natural conditions, bears their impress in her early 
history. Her first appearance in the world was cf 
the humblest character. Early Rome occupied a 
single hill, the Palatine, one difficult of access, by 
reason of its steep escarpment, and screened from 
the surrounding country by dense jungle. It lay 
near the banks of the rushing Tiber. 

The right bank of the river was occupied by the 
powerful Etruscans, and the other hills in the neigh- 
bourhood were in the possession of other races more 
or less unfriendly. Such was Nature's training ground 
for the people who were to become world-wide con- 
querors. From the very exigencies of existence, the 
Romans had to seek alliances and to cultivate peace- 
ful relationships with their neighbours — Latins by race, 
like themselves — till they were strong enough to ac- 
quire the Campagna, the plain which stretched from 
the banks of the Tiber to the modern Mount Circello, 
and from the Apennines to the sea. 

In addition to their political genius, the position 
of the Romans in the centre of the peninsula, and 
their possession of the valley of the Tiber, enabled 
them to incorporate the mountainous Sabine territory 
and the northern province of Etruria. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 49 

The chances of the Etruscans, in the struggle for 
the supremacy of the peninsula, were discounted in 
advance, from the fact that they had as their northern 
neighbours the Gauls of the province v^^hich was 
later known as Cisalpine. 

The geography of the locality will explain much 
which appears at first sight anomalous. Though Italy, 
as we know it, is bounded on the North by the 
Alps, which contain the highest mountains of Europe, 
its complete protection is not thereby assured. The 
Alps are pierced by passes which are, by comparison 
with the Pyrenees and the Balkans, easy to cross. 
The range itself presents a very steep face on the 
southern or Italian side, while its exterior slopes to- 
wards France, Switzerland, and German Austria are 
comparatively gentle. 

Thus the Gauls had early appropriated the valley 
of the Po, and made the line of the Apennines, from 
the Gulf of Genoa to Ariminum, the demarcation 
between themselves and the southern states. The 
crossing of the Rubicon was equivalent to a declaration 
of war as between the Romans and Gauls. 

From the Etruscans, the Romans adopted many 
of their ideas, including the particular array they 
favoured in battle. 

The first dispute of the Romans with the Cartha- 
ginians showed the necessity for a fleet, and the 
vigour of the early republic is shown in the two 
months' work, whereby forests were cut down, timbers 
sawn, and one hundred galleys, of considerable size 
and solidity, constructed and launched. 

From the conquest of the Carthaginians, the Romans 
passed onward to the conquest of the Grecian states, the 
conquest of Gaul and the rest of the known world. 

A comparison of the natural surroundings of the 
Greeks and the Romans will serve to explain the 

(C345) 4 



50 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

general lines of divergence between the two peoples. 

The coast line of Greece is strikingly irregular, and 
well provided with bays and harbours. The Italian 
coast is marked by comparative uniformity, and absence 
of convenient harbours. Thus the Greeks were led 
on naturally towards commerce, and to the search of 
the outlets for their surplus population in colonies over 
the sea. 

The genius of the Romans lay rather on the land 
than on the water, and by means of their elaborate 
system of roads they impressed their will on all the 
known world, and gave to mankind a body of laws, 
whose influence remains to this very day. 

The Grecian mountains were jumbled together 
in irregular masses which served to define small 
distinct districts. The Italian mountains were more 
systematically disposed around a central range, and 
their valleys, though irregular, allowed of much readier 
cohesion between district and district. 

Yet the Roman successes were by no means due 
entirely to geographical advantages. They were due 
more to the discipline which the race had to under- 
go, in its first struggles to weld together the peoples 
of the Italian peninsula, and to the grandeur of the 
political system, which made even the barbarians 
proud of the privileges contained in the magic words 
" Civis Romanus sum". 

Perhaps the most striking confirmation of their 
"communal" sense is contained in their idea of in- 
ternational law which they have handed down to 
us. Their jus gentium may perhaps be considered 
as the least common denominator of the laws of the 
tribes of Italy which, when combined with the Greek 
conception of the Law of Nature, gave to the world 
the international law, which was to be of paramount 
importance in all future advances of civilization. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



IMPERIUM 

The greatness and power of the Roman Empire 
must be considered in its relation to the world of 
its day. Apart from India and Persia, the known 
world was comprised of the lands bordering the shores 
of the great inland sea, which thus acquired its name 
of Mediterranean. 

The main mountain axis of Europe, and the great 
Sahara Desert of Africa, together with the surface 
features of Syria and Asia Minor, had apparently con- 
spired to make the Mediterranean the centre of a 
miniature world. 

In that world, the city of Rome itself occupied 
a central position, and allowing for the changed con- 
ditions of modern life may not unfitly be compared to 
the position of Great Britain as the centre of the 
world of. the present day. 

Thus even at the height of its development, geo- 
graphical considerations were of paramount importance 
to Rome. The exclusive possession of the great sea 
basin gave it the necessary access to every province. 

The geographical feature, which dominated the 
whole, dominated also the parts. The great Roman 
road in Hispania kept close to the eastern shore, 
till it utilized the open valley of the Guadalquivir, 
to pass to the south-west corner of the land. From 
Rome to Narbonne, in Rome's important province 
in Southern Gaul, the road skirted the coast also. 

The tangled mountains of Greece precluded a road 
along the coast of that land, but a way was made 
from Rome to Brundisium, at the " heel " of Italy, 
and starting from Apollonia on the opposite side 
cf the strait a direct route ran through Thessalonica 
(Salonica) to Byzantium (Constantinople). 



52 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

On the west and south of the Mediterranean, the 
Roman roads in Syria, Egypt, Numidia (Algeria and 
Tunis), and Mauretania (Morocco), ran parallel to 
the coast. 

The possible need of co-operation between the land 
and sea forces seems to have influenced the choice 
of Roman stations in Britain. We may first notice 
those with distinctive names as Colchester and Lincoln, 
Chichester and Portchester, Winchester and Dorchester, 
Caerleon-on-the-Usk and Gloucester, Chester and Rib- 
chester. In addition there was London, with its 
stations en route of Dover, Richborough, and Re- 
culvers. 

Where the Roman Empire failed to reach the sea, 
the land boundaries were made along the line of the 
great rivers Rhine and Danube. Their valleys al- 
lowed of the formation of useful roads, so that by 
means of geographical lines of least resistance the 
various stations were linked together. 

As has been already mentioned, the Alps are char- 
acterized by gaps which allow of comparatively easy 
passage. The pass of St. Genevre led to the valley of 
the Rhone, as we might have inferred from the posi- 
tion of the town of Geneva. This road through the 
Pass of St. Genevre led past the town of Grenoble, that 
is Gratianopolis, which was named after the Emperor 
Gratian, and also past Valence, which was named after 
Valens. 

The St. Bernard Pass, which is of present commercial 
importance as leading to the Rhine, was not used by 
the Romans. They travelled by the Julier Pass to 
meet the Valley of the Inn, which thus enabled them 
to arrive at the headwaters of the Rhine. 

The easiest of all the Alpine passes was the Brenner, 
which ran along with the Valley of the Adige to give 
access to the Tyrol. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 53 

This road was defended on the ItaHan side by the 
town of Verona. It ran to Augsburg, which was 
named after the Emperor Augustus who established a 
colony there, and ran also to Ratisbon, the station for 
a camp or "castra". 

East of the Brenner Pass, the mountains themselves 
gave ready access to the land now known as Austria, 
and a road passed direct from Verona to Vienna, the 
most important of all stations, because of its position 
at the parting of various lines of march. On the 
Danube also, we may notice Turnu-Severin, that is the 
tower of Severin, and Nicopolis, the "city of victory", 
so named by the Emperor Trajan. 

The names of the Roman stations along the Rhine 
were themselves legion. They were all built along 
the left bank of the stream. Among them we may 
notice Strassburg, the " fort by the road ", which is still 
one of the most strongly fortified towns of Europe; 
Mayence, which from its position at the junction of 
the Rhine and the Main was considered one of the 
most important of the Roman forts; Coblentz, the 
depot for slingers; Bonn, the headquarters of several 
legions; Cologne, the "colony" founded by Nero's 
mother; and Utrecht (Ultra-trajectum), the lowest 
point down the stream across which it could be 
bridged. 

Other stations deserving of notice were Toulouse 
in Gaul, an important station standing midway be- 
tween the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean ; and 
Orleans on the Loire, which recalls in its name that 
of the Emperor Aurelian. 

The name of Oporto reminds us that it gained its 
name from its harbour (portus), while Saragossa, in the 
basin of the Elbe, is a name shortened from Caesarea 
Aiigusta. 



54 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

OBSTRUCTIONS OF 

MOUNTAIN, MARSH, AND FOREST 

A study of the extent of the Roman Empire 
shows how vital the sea was to the Romans, as a bond 
of union between the various parts of their land, and 
how the great river valleys were appreciated for their 
lines of communication. 

The Empire was not so much the result of peaceful 
growth and accretion, as the effect of forcible absorp- 
tion, and its history showed what powers of resistance 
are conferred on inhabitants by mountainous heights 
and marshy lowlands. 

The early Roman struggles with the Samnites, a 
tribe which dwelt among the Apennine Mountains, 
extended over fifty years. The Helvetii, and the other 
Gallic tribes which dwelt among the heights of the 
modern Switzerland and Burgundy, were a constant 
thorn in the sides of the Romans, even in their 
days of power; while we can infer how difficulties 
of conquest depended on the nature of the land from 
the fact that the Auvergne Mountains are named 
from the Arveni, the tribe which appears most fre- 
quently before our notice in Caesar's campaigns. 

The Roman legions, which composed the standing 
army of the Empire, were stationed on the frontiers 
or posted in turbulent provinces. 

The banks of the Rhine were guarded by eight 
legions, Africa and Egypt by four, the eastern frontier 
by four, the line of the Danube by four, the Spanish 
Peninsula by three, and two were stationed in Dal- 
matia so that they could easily reach Rome if neces- 
sary. 

In this garrisoning of Hispania, we can again read 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 55 

the value of mountain heights to determined men. In 
Britain, the defence afforded by mountain and marsh 
is very noteworthy. The tribes which proved them- 
selves to be possessed of the greatest resisting power 
had decided natural defences. 

The Iceni and the Trinobantes occupied the land 
now known as Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and were 
defended by the fens of the Wash rivers on the north, 
and by the forests and marshes of the Lea and lower 
Thames on the south. 

The Roman stations at London, St. Albans, Nor- 
wich, and Colchester are indelible records of the 
consideration which the Romans gave to the Iceni 
and the Trinobantes. 

The defence afforded by mountains can be read in 
the resistance maintained against the might of Rome 
by Caractacus and the Caledonians. The necessary 
respect due to the former from the Romans is told 
in their stations at Gloucester, Caerleon-on-the-Usk, 
Uriconium (Wroxeter), and Chester; that due to the 
latter in the line of forts between the mouths of the 
Forth and the Clyde. 

Even more eloquent than the instances cited from 
within the Empire, are those which can be culled 
from without. The Roman legions on the Rhine 
were placed in position, because of the periodic attacks 
of the Teutonic tribes which could take ready refuge 
in the mountains, marshes, and forests of the recesses 
of the modern Germany. 

In the reign of the Emperor Augustus, the Roman 
General Varus followed the Teutons into the hilly 
region of the Teutoburger Forest in the autumn of 
9 A.D. A great storm which arose disposed of any 
chances the forces might once have had. Caught 
among the marshes and morasses they were over- 
whelmed by their fierce foes. 



56 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The whole extent of the land from the Vistula 
to the Rhine was characterized by lakes and woods, 
marshy jungles, and sandy wildernesses. The records 
afforded by present-day names are worthy of notice. 
" Wald ", the word for forest, can be found in Schwartz 
Wald (Black Forest), Spree Wald, Bakony Wald, 
Bbhmer Wald (Bohemian Forest), Thuringian Wald, 
Westerwald, etc. Holland derives its name from 
its " houtland " that is its " woodland ". 

The Roman disaster of Varus had some sort of 
compensation in the successful expedition of Trajan 
against the Dacians, which we can read recorded in 
stone on Trajan's column at Rome. There we can 
see the exertions of the sappers and miners in making a 
road into Transylvania, " the land beyond the woods ". 
The name of " Roumania " will also tell us of the 
Roman colony which was settled there after this 
campaign, just as " Roumelia " spoke of the earlier 
Roman influences south of the Danube. 

The evidence afforded by other names as to the 
presence of forests is also interesting. Montenegro 
(Black Mountain State) still retains valuable timber 
trees on its mountain sides, and Bukovina is orobably 
the land of " beeches " 



TRIBAL MIGRATIONS 

Just as Physical Geography will illumine much of 
man's history, so the combination and accommodation 
of natural surroundings with human endeavour can 
be read in Political and Commercial Geography. 

The political divisions of the modern map of Europe 
are explained by the events which produced the break- 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 57 

up of the Roman Empire. This Empire had been 
built up in spite of the divisions and demarcations 
which Nature had indicated, and its dissolution was 
accompanied with the reassertion, as it were, of 
Nature's boundaries. 

The passing of the Empire was the beginning of 
the Teutonic ascendancy which has continued up to 
the present day. 

Out of the various German tribes, we can distin- 
guish in the middle of the third century four chief 
confederations, the Allemanni, the Franks, the Saxons, 
and the Goths. 

The Allemanni had a distinctive custom of owning 
land in common (the Allemand), from which they 
obtained their name. This is still the name by which 
the Germans are known to the French. The Alle- 
manni occupied South Germany, the Black Forest, 
German Switzerland, and Wurtemberg. 

The Frank lived on the banks of the Rhine, which 
divided him from the Celt. The Saxons occupied 
Northern Germany, the Goths dwelt in the basin of 
the Vistula and Dnieper, and from their northern 
border worked their way along the shores of the 
Baltic, where the southern province of Sweden and 
its adjacent island are known as " Gothland ". 

The eastern portion of the race composed the 
Ostro-goths, while the western portion was known 
as the Visi-goths. Akin to the Goths were the 
Vandals and the Burgundians. 

Other tribes included the Suevi who gave their 
name to Swabia, the Jutes of Jutland, and the 
Longobards who were on the middle Elbe. 

The constant pressure which the Teutons brought 
to bear on the Roman Empire at last told its tale, 
and first Dacia was relinquished to the Goths by the 
Emperor Aurelian, and later they were allowed to 



58 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

settle south of the Danube, and were thus incorpo- 
rated in the Empire. 

But this was only the beginning of more terrible 
things, for the Tartar people, the Huns, forsook their 
camping grounds in Asia, and pouring forth in their 
countless hordes came westwards over the plains of Russia. 

The eastern and the western Goths left their 
lands on each side of the Dnieper, and crossed the 
Danube. The other Teutonic tribes were forced 
westward, and thus there ensued the enormous up- 
heaval in which very few of the German tribes re- 
tained their original seats. 

The Franks were driven over the Rhine into Gaul, 
whose name they changed to France, though their 
former haunts are still shown in the land of Franconia. 
The Saxons and Angles crossed the waters of the 
North Sea and found a new home in Britain, which 
thus became England. 

The Goths, the Vandals, the Burgundians, and the 
Longobards appear to have worked with a common 
understanding. They crossed into the North of Italy, 
where the Longobards gave their name to Lombardy, 
then the Burgundians proceeded to the Rhone land 
where they founded the province of Burgundy. 

The Ostro-goths settled in Italy, and the Visi-goths, 
true to their former position relative to their eastern 
brethren, went westward to southern Gaul and Spain. 
Their rule is said to be evidenced in the names of 
Cat-a-lonia and Vandalusia. 

The fourteen-days indiscriminate plunder of Rome 
by a Vandal leader gave rise to the term " vandalism " 
for wanton destruction. 

The Huns, who had been largely responsible for 
the "general post", contented themselves for some 
time with the grassy plains of Dacia, which would 
serve to remind them of their old steppes in Asia. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 59 

Like jackals following in the wake of the lion, as 
the Germans deserted their sandy plains along the 
shores of the Baltic, the Slavs crept in from the north- 
east, and occupied Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and 
Oldenburg. 

An interesting chapter of the general upheaval is 
formed by the account of the way in which the 
Angles and Saxons worked their way along the rivers 
of Britain, and displaced the Britons who were driven 
towards the west. 



OBSERVATIONAL WORK (Part I) 

Much profitable observational work can be derived 
from map-reading, but it is necessary in all cases that 
pupils should have their enquiries and researches di- 
rected, for there is perhaps no more wide-spread mis- 
conception than that which supposes that things can 
be seen just for the looking. Man is only able to 
see up to the point to which he has been trained 
to see. 

This is the more obviously true, when the results of 
mere looking require interpretation and th& making 
of inferences. 

Now the scope of the materials provided on the map 
is very extensive, and this is so whether we approach it 
on the physical side, as when we group rivers accor- 
ding to the parallelism of their courses, or look at 
political matters, and note how the similarity of 
names is indicative of identity of race. 

The former of these enquiries helps us to understand 
the physical structure of the regions in question. Thus 
the nature of the land and their slopes become endowed 
with significance when we observe the parallelism of 



6o THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the rivers of Sweden, the general sameness in direc- 
tion of the rivers of the Wash, or the twinship of the 
Dnieper and Don, the Volga and Ural, the Guadiana 
and Guadalquivir, the Theiss and the Danube, the 
Drave and the Save. 

The inferences derived from place-nam.es are even 
more suggestive. Had History been silent on the 
Teutonic immigration into Britain, we should still 
have had evidence of the fact in the similarity of 
names. We have already noticed the use by the 
Germans of the word " Wald " for forest. In Eng- 
land we have the same word in the "Weald" which 
formed such a persistent obstacle between the king- 
doms of Kent and Sussex. Similarly the "Wolds" 
of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and the Cotswolds of 
Gloucester, speak of wooded hills. 

It is interesting to note also how the forest of the 
Weald, when it had been pierced and penetrated, gave 
rise to various sections of "woods" called "hursts" 
in Kent and Sussex, and these are but etymological 
relatives of the German "Hurst", "Horst", occurring 
also in place-names. 

The English " ford " which we have in Bradford 
(the broad ford), Stafford, Oxford, Bedford, &c., is 
found in Germany as "furt" and "furth". Thus 
Frankfurt speaks most emphatically of the fact that 
there were certain river crossings which the Franks 
favoured. 

" Beck ", which is found in England as the name 
for a brook, is the German "bach". "Thorp", a 
village, which in the compound Milnthorp is the 
equivalent of the German "dorf" which we find in 
Dtisseldorf. 

"Stead", the EngHsh for place, is the German 
" stadt ". " Ham " in England, " heim " in Germany, 
and "um" in Friesland are the geograohical words 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 6i 

corresponding to "home". Birmingham and Mann- 
heim will be readily called to mind. 

The necessity which early communities felt of mak- 
ing provision for defence is enforced in several words. 
The " warded " or " guarded " place is shown in the 
suffix " worth " and " wurth ", as in Tamworth (the 
guarded place on the Tame), and Donauworth (the 
guarded place on the Danube). 

Our common words " bury " and " bark " for the 
covering of a tree derive their significance from an 
original meaning of covering and protecting, and are 
thus cognate with the German word "burgh". In 
England we have Bury, Bury St. Edmunds, and 
Tewkesbury, to place side by side with the German 
Brandenburg, Luxemburg (Little Burg), Hamburg, 
Wurtemberg, Saxe-Altenburg, and Salz-burg (Saltburgh). 

It will be noticed that some of the names from 
Germany are those of provinces, for by the same 
process as that by which many of our English counties 
took their names from a central town, these German 
provinces were christened. 

Just as the " burg " was the fortified town, so the 
" march " was the frontier on which the duty of 
defence was imposed. 

The tribes of Germany, with no well-defined natural 
boundaries except on the north, were specially in need 
of " margraves " or officers of the marches on whom 
rested the primary duty of repelling invaders. Ger- 
many was, in fact, almost in the same position as the 
kingdom of the Angles which obtained in Britain the 
name of Mercia. 

Yet Germany was in a more difficult position than 
Mercia, owing to the presence on her borders of races 
of different blood. Westward, she had contact with 
the Celt, eastward with the Slav, and on the south 
with "mixed" races. 



62 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The name of margrave as the "reeve of the march" 
still lingers, and traces of the old " marches " can still 
be made out. There was the March of Schleswig to 
keep v^atch over the countries of Scandinavia. Ant- 
v^erp had to keep an eye on the west. Austria and 
Saxony were the marches on the south, while Branden- 
burg had the difficult task of meeting any pressure on 
the east. The name of Prussia, it has been suggested, 
means " Border-Russia ". 

Later English history bears frequent reference to the 
Lords of the Marches and the Earl of March, titles 
which have their origin from the lands on the borders 
of Wales, which as the meeting-place of Teuton and 
Celt held the position in Britain which Belgium, in 
later times, took in Europe. 



OBSERVATIONAL WORK (Part II) 

In the last chapter, we have noted how the homes 
of allied races can be inferred from the similarity 
of place-names, but our inferences need not stop short 
at this point. Much can be learned also from the 
categories to which these names belong. 

The Romanized Celts had been drawn together 
into towns and colonies which bore Romanized names. 
The Teutons came, neglected the towns, and devoted 
themselves to a country life. Their settlements were 
those of agriculturalists who either sought out or 
formed the meadows and the leas. Many of our 
names bear witness to these "meadow" stations. 
Burnley, the lea by the bourne ; Saltley, the lea which 
tells its own tale ; and Beverley, the lea of the beavers. 

In most of the settlements, however, there was 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 63 

provision for defence of some rude character against 
wild animals. The defence of the "hedge" is shown 
in the use of the suffix "ton" (German zaun), and 
the defence of the stockade is shown in "stoke" 
and "stock". 

The Celts have left their traces in those parts of 
the land from which they were displaced, but these 
consist of names which have reference to natural 
features. If we remember the former Celtic pre- 
dominance in south-west Europe, we shall not be 
surprised when we find similar names in Britain, 
France, Spain, and Portugal. 

Most of the rivers named by the Celts took forms 
derived from " dwr", " afon", " uisge", or " don". In 
England, there are the Derwent and the Darent 
to correspond with the French Adour and Dordogne, 
and with the Spanish and Portuguese Douro. 

The pens or mountains are seen in Pennine and 
Apennine. The mountain ridge or " cefn" is em- 
bodied in the "Cheviot" Hills, "Chevening" in the 
north of Kent, and in the "Cevennes" of France. 

The "hill" or "dun" is shown in Snowdon, Dun- 
stable, Dunse, Halidon Hill, Dundee, Dunkeld, and 
Dumbarton. The situation of a town or settlement 
beside a wide stream was indicated by the combination 
of "dun" (hill) with "llwych" or "linn", the words 
for lake. This was the case with London, Lyons, 
and Leyden, the connection in the two latter being 
best seen in their Romanized form of Lug-dunum. 

Coombe, a hollow between hills, is perhaps seen 
in the examples of Morecambe, Ilfracombe, and 
Wycombe, while "nant" for "valley" is contained 
in the French Nantes, the Cheshire Nantwich, and 
the Welsh Nantglyn. 

It was fortunate for the Celts that as the Teutons 
were forced westwards, they themselves could find 



64 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

rocky refuges and sea-girt islands v/herein they could 
make a home. 

The Celts of Gaul retreated to Brittany, those 
of Britain retired to the heights of Cornwall, Wales, 
and Cumberland, while the Highlands of Scotland 
formed an unconquerable land for them when the 
Angles invaded the Lowlands. 

The names in the three Celtic strongholds in the 
west of England are often suggestive. The rocky 
forts which were denoted by the word "caer" are 
shown in Carlisle, Cardiff, Caernarvon, and Caer- 
marthen. " Pen ", a hill, is seen in Penrhyn (Cornwall), 
Pembroke (Wales), and Penrith (Cumberland). 

"Man", a district, is shown in the Isle of Man, 
Mona, and the Menai Straits, as well as in Maine 
(France) and Manchester. 

The native Celtic enthusiasm and ardour which 
found a remarkable avenue for its manifestation in 
Christianity gave the name of "Saint" to St. Bees 
in Cumberland, St. David and St. Govan in Wales, 
and St. Austell in Cornwall. The churches or " Hans", 
though their names are disguised, can be read in 
Launceston (St. Stephen), Lampeter (St. Peter), and 
Llandaff (St. David). 

The Britons of the south of the land received their 
message of Christianity direct from Rome. Those 
of the north received it from Ireland, and the some- 
what different conceptions of the religious life as 
well as the differences in the material wealth of 
the two sections is shown by the life in the "cells" 
which gave birth to the names in "kill" and "kell" 
which are so frequent in Scotland and Ireland. 

In these two lands, outside influences did not per- 
meate so rapidly as in England, so that they have a 
larger proportion of Celtic names. Both Scotland and 
Ireland have some remarkable heights which are specially 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 65 

noticeable on the coast. It is not therefore surprising 
to find a special word for " high " (ard), which is the 
component in the names of Armagh (Macha's hill), 
Arran, and Ardnamurchan. 

" Ken ", a head, is shown in Kenmore, Cantyre, 
and Kinnaird. 

"Inch" or "Ennis", an island, gave names to 
Inchcape, Inchmore, and Enniskillen. 

The early recognition of the value of a site at 
the mouth of a river seems to be established by its 
specification in a distinct word, "aber". Instances are 
found in Avranche of Brittany, Aberdare of Wales, 
and Aberdeen of Scotland. 

Lastly, the poetical instinct of the Celt seems to 
breathe out in the more descriptive epithets. " Garw" 
(rough) gave names to the rivers Garry, Yarrow, and 
Garonne. "Dhu" (black) is shown in Douglas and 
Dublin, while the primary word "Llevn" which 
meant smooth, and produced the word "linn" for 
the smooth pool or lake, is seen not only in Dublin, 
the English equivalent of Blackpool, but also in 
Loch Leven and Linlithgow. 



THE NORSEMEN 



Tribal migrations did not cease with the general up- 
heaval which ensued on the break-up of the Roman 
Empire. Throughout the whole of the climatic zones 
there has always been a tendency for the more north- 
ern tribes to attempt to displace their neighbours on 
the south, and the Scandinavian people, who had 
not shared in the previous Teutonic movement, were 
the next to make a stir, 

( c 345 ) 5 



66 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

It may be that a centralized power at home had 
made the more restless spirits look for quarters else- 
where, but it is still more certain that their incursions 
were but the natural sequel to their geographical sur- 
roundings. These had trained them to be essentially 
huntsmen and fishermen. 

The map of Norway reveals three striking character- 
istics, mountains reaching close to the sea-board, a 
curious series of branching inlets, and numerous islands 
along the coast. In some aspects, it is Greece trans- 
planted to the north. 

Yet the diiFerences in climate produce wonderful 
differences in other conditions. The short Norwegian 
summers make it difficult to raise even satisfactory 
crops of hay. The growth of corn is almost impos- 
sible, so that the means of livelihood must be sought in 
the game sheltered in the hills, or in the fish swarming 
in the waters. 

Even more strikingly than in Greece, Nature has 
indicated that the means of communication must be 
by water. The inlets are so many well-protected 
harbours, both by reason of their branches, and by 
reason of their island breakwaters, and the connection 
of "fiord" with "fare" (to go) is highly suggestive. 

The forests were well supplied with timber suitable 
for ships, so that Norway provided both the means and 
the inducements for migrations. Denmark in its sand 
dunes, equally with the cliffs of Norway, indicated that 
creature comforts must be sought elsewhere. The 
Norwegian mines furnished materials for weapons, and 
the climate gave them the hardihood and vigour which 
enabled them to undertake the expeditions which 
struck terror on all hands. 

They even ventured out of sight of land, trusting to 
the ravens which they carried with them to give the 
necessary indications of their locations. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 67 

Their voyages serve to illustrate the value of river 
valleys in piercing the heart of a country, and also 
show the conception of modern European coloniz- 
ation, as the provision of settlements for the surplus 
population of the home land. 

They secured a position at the mouth of the Seine 
v^hich enabled them to dominate Paris and dictate 
terms to the Frankish kingdom. Their hold on 
London was the step which allowed them to humiliate 
the West Saxons. 

Their colonies in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, in 
the stormy Orkneys and Hebrides, revealed them as 
hunters and fishermen, in contradistinction to agri- 
culturalists. 

From their station in the Orkneys they flowed over 
to the mainland, which thus became for them the 
"Sutherland"; and then as they passed still farther 
down the west coast of Scotland, they founded a yet 
more southerly dominion which is still recalled in the 
bishopric of " Sodor and Man". 

The presence of certain words on the map will en- 
able us to read the wanderings of these hardy Norse- 
men. "Wick" is allied to the word "viking" the 
man of the creek or bay, and also with the Latin 
"ville", and its connection with the latter seems 
to convey the idea that the Scandinavian "bays" or 
"fiords" were the sites for their villages. 

"By" was their word for "dwelling", which we 
meet with in by-law. Their "fiord" became on the 
Scottish coast "firth" and in other cases "ford" as in 
Milford Haven, Waterford, and Wexford Harbours. 
To them a strait was known as a "sound". 

Throughout its entire length, the eastern shores of 
Britain retain traces of the Norsemen's presence in 
Wick and Berwick, Whitby and Grimsby, Green- 
wich, Woolwich, and Sandwich. The west coast of 



68 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Scotland witnesses to their presence in its various 
"sounds". 

Ireland has its Limerick and Smerwick, while the 
Danish occupation of England north of Watling Street 
Road in accordance with the terms of the treaty made 
with King Alfred, is indicated in many places, among 
which we may notice Derby and Rugby, Appleby and 
Kirby. 

"Dale" for valley appears in Annandale, Lonsdale, 
and Kendal. " Holme " for river island is seen in the 
English Oxenholme and Durham (Dun-holme) as well 
as in the Scandinavian Stockholm. 

Other words relating to the sea and its coasts are 
"ness" or "nez" for nose or cape, which gave us 
Caithness, Sheerness, Grisnez, and the Nazes of Nor- 
way and Essex. "Scar" for rock appears in Scar- 
borough, the Skerries, and Skerryvore. 



FEUDAL LORDS (Part I) 

At first sight it would appear that feudalism belongs 
wholly to the domain of History, and no doubt this is 
true if we confine ourselves to its purpose in binding 
society together after the shattering of the strong 
political system of the Romans. 

Yet the effect of feudalism in the creation of lords 
with large landed interests had important geographical 
bearings. Our illustrations in this chapter will be 
confined to England and Wales, and for a complete 
understanding must be taken in conjunction with the 
map. 

The dominant position of the feudal lord required 
that he should be entrenched in a strong castle, and 
the strongest positions for such were formed by emi- 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 69 

nences near streams. The most important castles 
served a public as well as a private purpose, for they 
were fixed in strat gic positions which can all be 
located on a physical map. 

In all ages, the most important lines for routes have 
been along river valleys, and, starting with the river 
Thames, we will survey these routes and their defences. 
London had its "Tower", commenced by William the 
Conqueror, and this was supplemented by castles higher 
up the river at Windsor, Wallingford, and Oxford. 

Entrance to the eastern counties was barred by 
castles at Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, and Lincoln. 
The basin of the Trent was defended by castles at 
Newark and Nottingham, the former of these being 
rebuilt in the reign of Stephen, and thus giving rise 
to the name of " New-worke ". 

The branches of the Yorkshire Ouse, which flow 
between the wolds and the Pennines, gave to the city 
of York special strategic importance. 

The defence of the Scottish border warranted special 
measures, and William the Conqueror created in Dur- 
ham a County Palatine under the Bishop of Durham, 
who thus acquired the power of an independent prince, 
with the right to coin money, levy taxes, and raise 
soldiers. 

This will account for Monkwearmouth and Bishop- 
wearmouth as contrasted with King's Langley, King's 
Lynn, Rowley Regis, &c. 

Routes through the Pennines were formed by taking 
advantage of the valleys of the Aire, Tees, and Tyne, 
and this will account for the castles at Clitheroe, Bar- 
nard Castle, and Carlisle. 

Newcastle owes its name to a fort built by Robert, 
the eldest son of William the Conqueror. 

Returning to the south, we iind Arundel Castle, one 
of the finest residences in existence, built in the valley 



70 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

of the Arun, Winchester in the valley of the Itchen, 
Salisbury in the valley of the Avon having fortifications 
previous to feudal times, and Dorchester in the valley 
of the Frome. 

Exeter and Tiverton castles in the valley of the Exe 
date from Norman times. Proceeding to the Bristol 
Channel, we find the feudal castle of Taunton in the 
valley of the Tone, and similar castles at Bristol and 
Devizes along the course of the Avon. 

The great entrance to the Midland Plain of England 
along the course of the Severn was defended by castles 
at Berkeley, Gloucester, Warwick, and Kenil worth. 

The importance of the border or " march " lands 
near Wales was emphasized in a great array of castles. 
Wales is essentially a land of mountains, which grouped 
themselves to mark out three distinct divisions — North 
Wales, Mid Wales, and South Wales. 

Chester was the door to North Wales from Eng- 
land, Shrewsbury is the natural capital of Mid Wales, 
and Hereford the corresponding town for South Wales. 
Each of these had its strong castle, and each was placed 
in the charge of a baron who was most likely to assist 
in the appropriation of the lands of his Welsh neigh- 
bours. 

In. a few years the castles were multiplied. Chester 
soon had associates in the castles of Hawarden, Flint, 
and Rhuddlan. Shrewsbury had fellows at Oswestry, 
Montgomery, and Bridgnorth, while along the line of 
the southern plain, the castle-builders fortified the 
length from Chepstow to Pembroke, erecting defences 
at Newport and Cardiff, Neath and Swansea, Car- 
marthen and Tenby. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 71 



FEUDAL LORDS (Part II) 

Feudal ideas will explain much of the history of the 
Middle Ages, both in the aggrandizement of the indi- 
vidual nobles and the aggressions of their sovereigns. 

The final struggle of England with Wales had its 
ostensible basis in the feudal claims of Edward I, the 
story of whose Welsh campaigns and subsequent castles 
forms the most beautiful and lively of all lessons on the 
geography of North Wales. 

The incidents in connection with England's dealings 
with Scotland are equally illustrative. In this case, 
the feudal claims had reference at first to the lands on 
either side of the border, which had not been dehmited. 
The border was ultimately decided by physical conditions. 
When the Romans, with their political centre at York, 
wished to guard against the attacks of the tribes who 
could shelter in the Scottish Highlands, they naturally 
chose the line of the Firths of Forth and Clyde for 
the dividing line. 

When, however, two civilized centres had grown up, 
the one in the south of England and the other on the 
fertile lowlands immediately south of the old Roman 
line, it was most natural that the division should 
be made where the population was most scanty, in 
other words where the bonds of cohesion were weakest. 
That the boundary was decided by natural conditions 
is shown by the fact that there was no formal agree- 
ment on the subject. The bog known as Sol way 
Moss, the Cheviots, and the Tweed arranged, as it 
were, the matter between themselves. 

In later times, when the feuds between England and 
Scotland became intensely bitter, the border castles 
and peels fixed themselves, quite naturally, along the 
routes of the raiders and marauders. 



72 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

As the " eastern " route was the easier, and therefore 
the most frequented, Berwick held a most responsible 
position. Being on the northern bank of the Tweed, 
it belonged properly to Scotland, and in the reign of 
King John, when the town was in the possession of 
the Scots, the English attempted to make a rival castle 
on the southern bank at Tweedmouth. Though they 
failed, owing to the way in which the Scots were able 
to harass them, they eventually managed to gain pos- 
session of Berwick, and solved their problem in that 
way. 

Higher up the Tweed, on the English side of the 
river, was the castle of Norham, " Norham's castled 
steep," whose importance is embodied in its choice by 
Edward I for the famous meeting when he adjudicated 
on the claims of the competitors for the Scottish 
throne. 

Farther south, along the eastern road, were the forts 
of Bamborough and Dunstanburgh, till the valley of 
the Aln was guarded by the fort of Alnwick. Still 
again southwards, Warksworth was placed to defend 
the valley of the Coquet, and in addition to the fort 
of Newcastle already mentioned, the line of the Tyne 
was protected by castles at Tynemouth and Jarrow. 

On the west, the Scots guarded their route through 
Annandale by the castle of Lochmaben, that through 
Nithsdale by Caerlaverock, and the basin of the LicMle 
by the castle at Hermitage. On the east, they defended 
the valleys of the Tweed and Teviot by the castles of 
Roxburgh, Dry burgh, and Jedburgh. 

The strategical importance of the different routes 
can also be read in the positions of battlefields. Hex- 
ham lies on the route which the " Tyne Gap " has 
fixed between Newcastle and Carlisle, Otterbourne 
in the basin of the North Tyne, Hedgeley Moor, 
Homildon Hill, and Flodden in the basin of the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 73 

Till. Halidon Hill being fought for the possession 
of Berwick lies in the basin of the Tweed. Solway 
Moss tells its own position. 

Border-fighting was usually far more feudal than 
national in character. As a matter of fact, the Scottish 
nobles of the Lowlands had been Norman barons, and 
it was mere chance that decided that the names of 
Percy and Douglas should be feared north and south 
of the Border. In later times, when there were 
internal dissensions in Scotland, the Scottish borderers 
preyed on either side, with the utmost impartiality, 
and certain families, as the Kerrs, the Armstrongs, 
and the Scotts, had monopolies of wholesale thiev- 
ing. 

Feudalism gave colouring to the whole of Scottish 
history up to the union of the crowns of England and 
Scotland. The system took firmer root in Scotland 
than ever it did in England, and it existed there long 
after it had been overthrown in England. The ex- 
planation is partly contained in the different geo- 
graphical conditions. In Scotland, there was not the 
same well-defined centre, and the mountainous and 
island districts, being difficult of access, were not easily 
brought under a central control. 

Again, the build of the land favoured the rise and 
the prolongation of the tribal or "clan" system, which 
created a large number of local magnates. Thus the 
Crown was in constant trouble. Sometimes it was 
a revolt of the men of the north under the Earl of 
Moray, whose district is still shown to us on the map 
in Moray and the Moray Firth. Sometimes it was 
a rising in Galloway, the Celtic corner of the south- 
west. 

At times it was an alliance between the Earl of 
Buchan and the Macdougals of Lorn, at others it was 
a struggle between the Hamiltons and the Douglasses. 



74 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The Macdonalds, as " Lords of the Isles ", resented 
any outside interference, and constantly the Crown 
had to exalt one clan in order to depress another. 
Thus the duty of maintaining order in the west was 
entrusted by James IV to the Earl of Argyll, the 
head of the Campbells, while the Earl of Huntly, as 
head of the Gordons, was charged with the same 
duty in the North, and required to maintain a strons^ 
fortress at Inverness. 



THE SARACENS OR EASTERNS 

The physical structure of Arabia is noteworthy. 
Its mountains are situated along its coasts, and these 
rob their hinterland almost entirely of rain. Hence 
the greater portion of the interior is an uninhabitable 
desert. 

Only in the middle are there oases crowned with 
the date palm, where the Bedouins or nomadic Arabs 
rear their horses and single-humped camels. The 
settled population occupies the coast strip. Thus 
Arabia enforces two modes of life, the pastoral and 
the agricultural, and at one time it appeared as though 
no unifying force could possibly appear which would 
weld the two sections into one. 

Even Mecca and Medina crystallized the twofold 
sections of the people, the former a Bedouin centre 
gathering round a sacred spring, the latter a settlement 
made by stationary Arabs or Yemenites. 

Moreover the tribal instinct was so developed 
throughout the land, that all thought of nationality 
was thereby excluded. 

Yet the apparently impossible was rendered possible 
by the mission of Mohammed. The religion of Islam 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 75 

created a Moslem people which started with an en- 
thusiasm amounting to fanaticism, subduing and con- 
verting the neighbouring nations. Sweeping along 
the north of Africa, the Arabians gained a foothold 
at Ceuta, and then invaded and took possession of 
Spain, which in its peninsular and elevated character 
resembled their original home in Arabia. 

Their residence in Spain is still evidenced in the 
river names beginning with " Guad " the equivalent 
of the Arabian " wady ". But the Mohammedan 
conquests were not limited to Africa and Europe. 

Though checked for a time in their assaults on the 
Byzantine Empire they easily seized Syria, the land 
of the Holy Sepulchre, and the objective of many 
Christian pilgrims. This had important bearings on 
subsequent European history. 

First, the religious war, which arose under the name 
of the Crusades, gave an ideal which was a great ad- 
vance on the former baronial and dynastic quarrels. 
But, still better, it was an element in the constructive 
movement whereby the western nations of Europe 
began to work for common ends. 

The Crusades further produced a spirit of chivalry, 
and also gave a great impetus to trade. The journey 
to the east involved an acquaintance with its products, 
and then, as always, the demand stimulated the supply. 

As we shall see in our next chapter, the trade with 
the east had important geographical issues, but at this 
stage we will glance at the routes of the Crusaders, 
as illustrating the lines of communication between 
Western Europe and Syria. 

Starting from Cologne, where a large number of 
pilgrims collected in answer to Peter the Hermit's 
call, their road to Hungary was indicated along the 
valleys of the Rhine, Main, and Danube. 

Leaving the Danube at Belgrade, the valleys of the 



76 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Morava and Maritza led them past Philippopolis and 
Adrianople to Constantinople. The rugged tablelands 
of Asia Minor were a source of great hardship, being 
waterless and uninhabited, so that there was much 
joy when they passed into the Cilician plains, and 
reached the walls of Antioch. 

Two alternative routes to the east are indicated in 
the outward and return journeys of Richard Coeur- 
de-Lion. Journeying by the valley of the Rhone to 
Marseilles, he next skirted the Italian coast to Sicily, 
and then passed by way of Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus 
to Acre. 

On his return voyage from Acre, he landed at 
Venice, and travelled thence to Vienna, whence he 
made his journey through Ratisbon, Treves, and 
Cologne to Calais, Sandwich, and London. 



TRADE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 

The teachings of history may be looked for in the 
establishment of balances. The Saracen conquests 
called forth the efforts of the Crusaders. Still earlier 
they had developed a spirit of enterprise in Mediter- 
ranean ports. 

The dwellers on the coast, being subject to Saracen 
raids, obtained permission from their lords to fortify 
their towns, and even to carry war into the enemy's 
camp. 

It was in this way that Genoa and Pisa won their 
way into notice, and proved their power. Sardinia 
was wrested from the Moors by Pisa, and Genoa also 
secured Corsica for a time from the same foes. Venice 
and Florence rose to foremost positions about the 
same time. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



11 



Geographical considerations will partly account for 
this. Genoa with its surrounding arid territory, and 
Pisa with Florence in the background, had no chance 
for expansion by land, and had to look to their develop- 
ment on the sea. 

The river basins of the Arno and Tiber readily 
connected Rome and Florence, and as the Apennines 
were crossed by a road between Florence and Bologna, 
the commercial situation of the former was so good, 
that its merchants became very wealthy, and finally 
succeeded in obtaining the monopoly of the banking 
business of the Holy See. Their operations were 
usually of the same good character as their coinage, 
which has given us a legacy in the word "florin". 

But in favoured- positions, Venice was most blessed. 
Her site at the head of the Adriatic Sea enabled her 
ships to reach Constantinople and Alexandria, the two 
greatest centres of the world's commerce. On the 
east she could readily reach the waters of the Save 
and the Danube. 

Through Vienna, roads ran to the valleys of the 
Oder and the Elbe. Moreover her position near the 
Alpine passes and the valleys of the Po gave her access 
to the waters of the Rhine, and thus to the lands of 
which it was the main artery. 

The Crusades gave the Italian trading cities op- 
portunities for development, which they were not slow 
to seize. First the strife occupied the attention of 
the Saracens, and made them less able to hold their 
own in the commerce of the day. Next it drove 
the nobles and landowners to negotiate loans with 
these Italian citizens, who were the bankers of the 
Middle Ages. But, still more, the Crusades brought 
into popular demand the products of the east which 
these Italian merchants thenceforward made it their 
lousiness to supply. 



78 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The names of sugar and syrup became known to 
the Crusaders on Syrian soil, so also did the damson, 
the apricot, and the lemon. Damson^ like damask^ 
shows in its form its association with Damascus, while 
apricots were for long years known as "plums of 
Damascus ". 

Beside these the knowledge of cotton and muslin, 
of dyes and dyeing-colours, came from the Saracens. 
" Carmine " and " crimson ", " lilac " and " azure ", 
are terms that came to us through the Arabic. 

But Nature never blindly confers all her gifts on 
one locality. The " east " might have its sugar and 
spices, its silks and muslins, but the products of the 
colder regions were equally vital to the world's com- 
merce. 

The Baltic regions were the producers of hemp, 
which was necessary for rope-making, and so essential 
for sailing-ships. In addition the Catholic peoples 
needed large supplies of fish and wax, and these again 
came from the North of Europe. 

The merchants who controlled the trade of the 
Baltic banded themselves into a confederation, which 
was known as the Hansa League, and their greatest 
emporium was at Bruges. 

A glance at the map of Europe will show Bruges 
as the very focus of the central European communi- 
cations. Not only did it stand midway between the 
northern and the southern spheres of trade, the 
commercial cities of Italy, and the Hansa towns of 
the Baltic, but its land communications on all sides 
were exceptional. 

Through Magdeburg and Berlin it could get in 
touch with the whole length of the European plain. 
Through Frankfort and Nuremburg it communicated 
with the Danube and Constantinople. Through the 
valley of the Rhine it could obtain the wares of Milan 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



79 



and the " east ". Through the Meuse and the Saone, 
it could utilize the valley of the Rhone, while along 
the valley of the Oise it could readily reach Paris. 



RUSSIA 

The position and configuration of Russia contains 
the key to much of its history. Its build as well as its 
situation is Asiatic rather than European, and the 
boundaries cannot be drawn along any well-defined 
natural lines. 

Europe is characterized by an extensive coast line of 
varied contour, and a prevalence of peninsulas. Russia, 
like Asia in general, is marked by a relatively small and 
uniform sea-border, and a monotonous contour. 

We have already noticed how the Aryan Slavs pro- 
bably retained their seat after the other branches of the 
Aryan family had moved westwards, and it is the Slav 
race which represent in the Russia of to-day the 
European elements. 

But there was nothing to prevent the more distinc- 
tively Asiatic races from penetrating into the same land. 
On the north, the Samoyeds and Finns followed the 
line of the Frozen Ocean, and reached even to the 
heart of Scandinavia. In the south, the steppes around 
the Caspian and Black Seas were occupied by members 
of the Mongolo-Turkish race, and the question in the 
history of the land was whether the Slav races from 
their positions in the centre would be able to move 
outwards to the extremities, and absorb the non-Slav 
elements or whether the Asiatic peoples would prevail. 

The first rudiments of a state appeared at Novgorod, 
where the name Russia was derived from the sea- 
farers or vikings who, hailing from Scandinavia, were 



8o THE ASSOCIATION OF 

able to form an organized government. The situation 
of Novgorod on Lake Ilmen is noteworthy, and as the 
history of Russia has been largely influenced by its 
river system, it v^^as not unfitting that its first capital 
should be placed near the headwaters of the rivers 
which flow to the Caspian, the Baltic, and the White 
Seas. 

But the time for the development of a geographical 
unity had not yet come, and two other potential 
capitals sprang into being, Polotzk on the Dvina, and 
Kiev on the Dnieper, in the land of the Polani, the 
"men of the fields". 

Kiev, from its situation on one of the richest tracts 
in the world, and placed on a navigable river which 
leads to the Mediterranean by way of Constantinople, 
was marked out by Nature for a foremost city. But 
it lay on the line of march of the fiercest of invaders, 
the Mongols, and Russian civilization was forced 
into the north and north-east. 

The wide-spreading plains assisted the march of the 
assailants. Had there been mountain fastnesses, where 
the occupiers could have made a stand, the history of 
the land would have been diflFerent. As it was, the 
Mongols for two centuries dominated the land, with 
the exception of Novgorod. The latter owed its 
importance to its service as an emporium for European 
trade, and the neighbouring region assumed the name 
of "Great Russia". 

During the period of Mongol or Tartar domination, 
Moscow came into notice, for the princes of Vladimir 
and Moscow were quite willing to do everything to 
conciliate the Tartars, so that they might be allowed 
to rule over the north-east. The Tartars, on the 
other hand, were quite content, if they were given, 
as required, homage, the poll tax, and military con- 
tingents. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 81 

Their most famous tribe was the Golden Horde 
which settled in the lower basins of the Don and of 
the Volga, and drove the Bulgarians to find fresh 
settlements. In the fifteenth century it split up into 
a number of smaller "khan-ates", among which were 
those of the Crimea, Kazan, and Astrakhan. Soon 
afterwards, the Mongol rule in Russia came to an end, 
but even to the present day, the Tartar element pre- 
vails in the district formerly occupied by the Golden 
Horde, while their name for robber ("kazak") remains 
to us in the word *' Cossack". 

The impress of Orientalism, which the Mongols 
left on the land, has not yet been obliterated. The 
movement for the adoption of western modes of 
civilization received their greatest impetus from Peter 
the Great, and the striving for western models was 
acompanied by the desire to obtain control of a useful 
sea-border. 

With this policy in mind, Sweden was deprived of 
her dominion on the Baltic shores, and St. Petersburg 
was made the capital of Russia, because it was the 
"window" from which Europe could be watched. 

The expedition which Napoleon Buonaparte led 
against Russia, illustrated the conclusion which the 
rest of Russia's history enforces, that there is no real 
geographical heart to the land ; and the occupation of 
Moscow hardly affected the ultimate course of his 
campaign. 



THE ERA OF DISCOVERIES 

The wealth of eastern lands is revealed before 
our eyes, in Solomon's day, when he proceeded to 
execute the mandate of his father to build a Temple 

( c 345 ) 6 



82 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

to Jehovah. From the land of Ophir he requisitioned 
gold and silver, sandalwood and ivory, apes and pea- 
cocks. From Sheba (the Arabian Yemen) he sent for 
frankincense and spices. 

He founded " Tadmor in the Wilderness" as a 
sort of halfu^ay house for the caravans travelling to 
and from Babylon, so as to assist in the carriage 
from that emporium of embroidered vestments, w^oven 
carpets, shaw^ls, brazen vessels, gems, and pearls. 

From the time of their early migrations the western 
peoples had looked to the East for their luxuries, 
and we find Pliny deploring the annual expenditure 
of j^2, 000,000 by the Romans on silks and sapphires, 
pearls and gems, cinnamon, spices, and other eastern 
luxuries, and his evidence is supported by the frequent 
excavations of Roman coins all over southern India. 

The routes by which these eastern products were 
brought to Europe focused themselves at Constanti- 
nople. One route passed along the Red Sea and, 
crossing Egypt, emerged at the delta of the Nile. 
Another lay along the Persian Gulf, passing along 
the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris to go through 
Asia Minor. 

A third left India by the land gap on the north- 
west, and ran along the valley of the Oxus to pass 
through the Caspian and Black Seas, utilizing the 
valley south of the Caucasus for the intervening space. 

Thus Constantinople has one of the most favoured 
sites in the world. The Venetians, with their keen 
business acumen, took advantage of the weakness of 
the Byzantine emperors to obtain the naval supremacy 
in the Levant, but they could not keep out their 
competitors the Genoese. Thus the latter secured the 
Black Sea trade, while the Venetians obtained that 
which came through Syria and Egypt. 

The whole aspect of affairs, however, was changed 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 83 

when the Ottoman Turks established themselves in 
Asia Minor, and captured Constantinople. Moreover 
the Tartars v^^ere a further source of terror on the east. 

The western nations began to consider the possibility 
of reaching India by a new route. Portugal was in 
the forefront of the movement. She had been busy 
expelling the Moors from Europe, and had even 
followed them to Ceuta. To her the discovery of 
a new road to India meant not only wealth and 
aggrandizement, but a further check for her former 
masters. Her position suggested that there might 
be a way along the coast of Africa, and the story 
of her navigators as they timidly hugged the coasts 
of the Dark Continent on their way south is the 
story of Africa's forbidding shores. 

The foot of Mount Atlas had for long years been 
regarded as the ne plus ultra of European navigation, 
but little by little, fears and forebodings were shaken 
oflF. Portuguese ships negotiated the shoals near Cape 
Bojador, and even ventured so far out of sight of 
land as to discover the Madeira Islands. The dis- 
covery was most welcome. The wood (Portuguese 
madera^ Latin materia) which gave the name to the 
islands was burnt down, and the vine and the sugar 
cane introduced. In the latter products we can read 
the Portuguese attempt to secure some of the eastern 
trade, and their success in transplanting the vine is 
seen to-day in the reputation of the "Madeira" wine. 

As they proceeded along the shore, the character 
of the coast-lands changed, and this was recorded in 
the advance from Cape Blanco (white) to Cape Verde 
(green). The natives on the shores near the latter 
reminded the Portuguese of the Senaga, a Berber 
tribe, and thus they gave the neighbouring river 
the name of Senegal. 

The mountains rising in the interior, echoing with 



84 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the roar of the tropical thunder, were called the 
"Sierra Leone" (Lion Mountains). 

The swamps around the mouth of the Niger, which 
have given to the region the name of the " White 
Man's Grave", reminded the Portuguese of the land 
of Guienne, the ancient Aquitania (water-land), and 
the name of "Guinea" which it received, was trans- 
ferred later to the coin made of the gold from this part. 

The heart of the Gulf of Guinea was named Lagos, 
from the town of the same name standing on a fine 
bay in south-west Portugal, or from the adjacent lagoons. 

After many years of timorous gropings the southern 
limits of Africa were reached by Diaz, but called 
by him the Cape of Storms. His king, who recog- 
nized the importance of the coast's change of direction, 
and who now saw the reasonable fulfilment of Por- 
tuguese expectations, renamed it the " Cape of Good 
Hope". 

The difficulties of reaching India were, however, 
by no means surmounted, and these are indicated 
to us in the names of Agulhas (needles) and Corrientes 
(currents), that is, there were dangers of rocks and 
rushing waters. 

Eventually perseverance won the day, and Calicut 
was reached. This led later to Portuguese settlements 
on the west coast of India, among which were the 
fine harbours of Goa and Bombay (Buon bahia). 

Still later they pushed farther eastward, and secured 
stations among the Spice Islands. 



THE NEW WORLD (Part I) 

The geographical discoveries of the Middle Ages 
revolutionized the ideas and ways of the world, but 
their chief interest for our present purpose lies in the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 85 

fact that the discovery and subsequent colonization of 
America enable us to obtain a more accurate estimate 
of the effect of environment on human character and 
development. 

We can compare the people who fixed their homes 
on the other side of the Atlantic with their fellows 
whom they left behind in the Old World. America, 
from this point of view, is worthy of detailed treatment. 

Yet though the colonists of whom we shall treat 
started apparently with a clean sheet, there were 
human factors as well as geographical to operate in 
their environment. 

The people already in possession, though they were 
supplanted without much trouble by the Europeans, 
had at least their effect in modifying the rate of coloni- 
zation, and the negroes, who were introduced from 
Africa to perform labours for which the Europeans 
were unfitted, have directly and indirectly influenced 
the course of history, even up to the present day. 

At this juncture we may turn aside to see how the 
people of America, at the time of the European in- 
vasion, reflected the character of the land in which 
they were living. 

One of the most noticeable features in the part 
called North America is the vast extent of level land, 
with its mighty lakes and rivers. Here was the home 
of the Red Indians, who were divided up into a large 
number of tribes, each looking more or less to its own 
interests. Abundance of food could be obtained by 
fishing and hunting, or by the cultivation of " Indian " 
corn. 

The sameness of the products eliminated the need 
for trade, and the chief lines of development of the 
Red Indians followed their skill as hunters and fishers. 
They showed marvellous acumen in "following the 
trail" and in constructing birch-bark canoes. 



86 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

But no tribe developed resources which would allow 
of leisure for the growth of the arts of civilization. 
The level nature of the land forbade this among con- 
flicting interests. Any accumulation of wealth would 
have been a direct invitation for neighbours to attack 
and plunder. Had there been for any of them the 
protection of strong mountain walls, then good homes 
would have been built, and important industries de- 
veloped. 

We have good grounds for such a statement, when 
we turn to the Mexicans and Peruvians. 

The civilizations of these two peoples grew up on 
the cool high plains; the former where the Sierra 
Madre and the Rocky Mountains meet, and the latter 
among the Andes, or rather on the portion of them 
known as the Cordillera (little rope). 

The Peruvian cities were placed in the valleys, but 
the industrious workers spread along the plateaux, and 
the " orchards and wide -spreading gardens seemed 
suspended in the air far above the ordinary elevation 
of the clouds". 

On the western slopes of the hills, the climate, 
though so near the " Line ", was delightful, for breezes 
either blew from the Pacific or from the frozen sides 
of the Cordilleras. The rainfall was scanty, but every 
stream and rivulet from the Andes was utilized for a 
minute system of irrigation, so that the eyes of the 
Spaniards who were the first Europeans to view the 
land were delighted with the thousand bright colours, 
and their senses intoxicated with the abundant perfumes. 

The soil of Mexico, being largely volcanic, was 
extremely productive, and bore large supplies of de- 
licious fruit and maize. The Spaniards as they passed 
through the luxuriant plains and woodland, seeing the 
branches of the stately trees garlanded with vines of 
dark-purple grapes, and the undergrowth matted with 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 87 

wild roses and honeysuckle, described the scene as " a 
terrestrial paradise ", and compared it with the fairest 
regions of their own peninsula. 

Both Mexico and Peru were, and are still, rich in 
minerals, especially in silver. Their original inhabi- 
tants were more skilled in the art of road-making than 
the Europeans of their own day. Their temples and 
palaces were larger and more beautiful, and this speaks 
volumes for the industry of those who had no knowledge 
of wheeled vehicles, and knew nothing of beasts of 
burden which were capable of bearing heavy weights. 



THE NEW WORLD (Part II) 

The question of the relations of geography and 
history have external as well as internal aspects. In 
other words, we must consider not only the natural 
resources of a region, but also how it is situated with 
respect to other districts. What then is the position 
of America with respect to other continents? What 
are the countries which are nearest to it, and what 
is the medium in each case which has to be crossed 
to reach it? 

The first striking feature about America is its de- 
cided isolation. This will account for its dropping 
out of sight, as it were, of the early inhabitants of 
Europe. The eastern coast of America is on an 
average 3000 miles from the western shores of Europe. 
The western shores of America are in most places 
6000 miles from the shores of Asia. 

Though towards the north, Europe and Asia both 
approach the New World, yet the coldness of the 
regions in that area, and the barrenness of the land are 
as effective barriers to communication as the increased 
distance in the more southerly latitudes. 



88 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

From these considerations of distance, it would 
naturally be expected that the first settlers would 
come from the European side, but other factors were 
in operation to enforce the same probability. 

America, as it were, looks away from Asia, and 
looks towards Europe. An orographical map, nay, 
even an ordinary physical map, will serve to show the 
wonderful difference in elevation between the eastern 
and the western American shores. 

The chief mountains of the land form a chain 
running along the whole length of the Continent, 
but they hug the western shore, and form a sort of 
wall between the Pacific Ocean and the mainland. 
In many places they rise close to the shore in steep 
precipices, and there is hardly a spot where the land 
does not shoot up immediately 500 feet above the sea 
level. 

To emphasize still further the barrier formed by 
the mountains, thick woods clothe them in many 
parts, and serve to hinder communication, whether 
from the east or from the west. 

The position of the mountains determines the direc- 
tion of the rivers, and it will be easily seen that their 
valleys decided the course of the movement of the 
early settlers. Except on the north, there is no river 
which would form an entrance to the land for settlers 
approaching the land from the west. On the Atlantic 
side, however, the mouths of the great rivers are navi- 
gable far into the interior. Thus we may notice the 
Mackenzie and the Orinoco, the St. Lawrence and 
the Amazon, the Mississippi and the La Plata. 

To complete the disadvantages of the west coast 
over the east as a landing place for settlers, the greater 
part of it is barren, and badly supplied with drinking 
water. 

In almost all the cases of the early American settle- 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 89 

ments, the colonists chose stations near the coast. In 
this way they kept most readily in touch with the 
lands from which they came. 

Geographical conditions decided that the eastern 
seaboard of America should be the one which would 
appeal most strongly to European colonists, similar 
conditions that decided which part of sea-board should 
first be settled. 

The whole eastern length is well supplied with 
rivers and harbours, and there are no mountains in the 
immediate hinterland to restrict unduly the activities 
of colonies established on the shore. Yet southward 
of the river Orinoco was a stretch of unhealthy coast 
land, where wild beasts were a terror, and where thick 
forests and underwood provided an almost impassable 
barrier. Moreover, the rivers of this region, though 
broad, were sufficiently swift to make navigation 
difficult, and the alligators, which infested their banks, 
made travellers anxious to hurry away. 

Southwards again from this spot there was a tract 
of fertile land fit for European settlers, but its distance 
from Europe made it less attractive for them than 
the more northerly parts. 

Towards the north of the continent, the land was 
cold and barren, and unlikely to tempt colonists or 
traders. Taking this and questions of distance into 
consideration, people from Europe would select for 
their new home the land which lay between the Gulf 
of the St. Lawrence on the north and the mouth of 
the Orinoco on the south. 

Included in this range were the islands forming 
an archipelago to the east of the mainland. These 
" West India " islands were the most accessible of all 
the early stations. The widest passage between any 
two of the islands is less than 100 miles, so that it 
was not possible for any voyagers from Europe to 



90 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

reach the mainland beyond, and pass them by un- 
noticed. 

Moreover, they are fertile, well watered, and en- 
dowed with good harbours. Best of all, being insular, 
they possessed the security which the castles of the 
Middle Ages provided through their moats. The 
West India Islands furnished one of the readiest 
"keys" to America. 



SPANISH COLONIES IN AMERICA 

At a time when scientific method had yet to be 
formulated, the work of Christopher Columbus strikes 
us as specially meritorious. Not only did he proceed 
in the world of continents from the " known to the 
unknown ", but we catch occasional glimpses of the 
workings of his mind along the same path. Many 
times he had to conceal his conclusions owing to 
the resentment of his followers, but there were other 
occasions when we are privileged to know his careful 
observation of facts, his interpretation of these by the 
aid of constructive imagination, and his subsequent 
course of action as determined by his convictions. 

We see him navigating the western seas of Europe, 
collecting information as to the direction of the pre- 
vailing winds, observing the flights of birds, noting the 
characteristics of the materials drifted on the shores, 
and locating their probable origin. 

We see the character of his deductions, when he 
came to the mouth of the Orinoco, arguing that its 
volume of water could not be supplied by a small 
territory, such as the islands he had already discovered, 
but be derived from a country of immense extent, and 
concluding therefore that he had at length reached 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 91 

the continent which it had been his great concern 
to discover. 

The inclusion of the new lands under the general 
name of India, was not the flight of undisciplined 
imagination. India had been for ages famous for its 
gold, and the samples which Columbus had collected 
from the islands of the Caribbean Sea justified the 
inference that rich mines of that precious metal existed 
in the neighbourhood. Then again, cotton, which had 
hitherto been associated with India, was common in 
the land he had discovered, the pimento of the islands 
resembled pepper, and a root resembling rhubarb, which 
was at that time peculiar to India, was found. 

We have already emphasized the way in which 
history can be seen to have written with its finger 
across the map. 

The map of America affords good exercises for map- 
reading. First look at the occurrence of Spanish and 
Portuguese names which are derived from those of 
the homeland. This is the case with such names 
as Sierra Nevada, Sierra Madre, Montserrat, and other 
"serras", Santiago, that is Saint James, the patron saint 
of Spain, San Roque, New Almaden, and Granada. 

A still larger class of names speak of the special 
circumstances which entered into Spanish history at 
this time. The nation had just emerged from a 
successful struggle with the Moors, and in the minds 
of some of its people there were dreams that the 
discovery of an El Dorado or land of gold in the 
New World would enable the Spaniards to follow 
the Saracens to the Holy Land, and even expel 
them- from Jerusalem. Costa Rica (the rich coast) 
speaks of the search for this fabulous wealth, La 
Plata and Argentine speak of the search being re- 
warded by the discovery of silver. 

The all-absorbing hunt for gold and silver will explain 



92 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the march of the Spaniards along the line of the 
mountains. Their previous discoveries of the islands 
in the Caribbean Sea, had not only secured for them 
a safe base for further conquests, but afforded them 
ready access to these mountains of the west, the 
Rockies and the Andes. 

Their v^^onderment in passing through the gorges is 
contained for us in the w^ord " canon " whose compre- 
hensive circuit is borne more fully to English minds 
when it is associated with " cane " and " cannon ". 

California, as derived from Spanish words meaning 
" hot furnace ", speaks of the fierce rainless summers 
of the south. Colorado obtained its name from the 
splendid " colours " of the bare rocky mountains, as 
the sun illuminated them hour by hour during the day. 

The religious character of the times is indicated in 
the many references to "saints" and other "church" 
names. Thus we have Sacramento and San Francisco, 
Concepcion and Asuncion, Los Angeles and Gracias a 
Dios (Thanks to God), Corpus Christi and Santa Cruz 
(Holy Rood or Cross). 

Pizarro bestowed on his capital (now Lima) the name 
of Ciudad de los Reyes (City of the Kings) in honour 
of the feast of Epiphany. The fine harbour on 
the eastern shores was named Rio de Janeiro by the 
Portuguese from its discovery on January ist. Florida 
was named after Easter Day, the " pascua florida " of 
the Spaniards. 

Other names given by the Spaniards, being descrip- 
tive, help us to understand the character of the land. 
" Llanos " is derived from the Latin planus and is used 
to describe the great plains in the basin of the Amazon. 

Havana speaks of the good " haven " or harbour. 
Ecuador is the land on the " Equator ", Anguilla the 
snake-like island. Monte Video gave its "good view" 
just as Buenos Ay res its " good air ". 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 93 

Angostura denoted the narrow " pass " where the 
Orinoco traversed a restriction in its bed, but the name 
has now been changed to Ciudad BoHvar in honour of 
the Hberator. " Ranche " is the Spanish word for 
"range"; Tierra del Fuego, the "land of fire", was 
named by Magellan by reason of the fires which he 
saw nightly on its shores. 

The name of Antilles has an interesting history, as 
being derived from " Antillia ", the " opposite " land, 
the name used by map-makers of the Middle Ages 
to denote the unknown but suspected land of the 
west. 

" Colon " is the Spanish name for Columbus, and 
though Amerigo Vespucci robbed the man who had 
the best right to give his name to the New World, 
yet the name of the discoverer is kept ahve in both 
the old and the new world by Colon, Colombia, 
Columbia, and Colombo. 



THE DUTCH IN 
THE CONTEST FOR SEA POWER 

The antithesis to the Spaniards was given by the 
Dutch. The Spaniards despised commerce, the Dutch 
welcomed it as they did the wind that blew over their 
land. 

The difference in the attitude of the two may be 
traced in the very character of the countries themselves. 
Spain, with its elevated plateaux, difiicult of access from 
its forbidding African exterior, conveys concretely the 
" hauteur " of the nobles descended from petty kings, 
and arrogating to themselves sovereign rights. Holland 
with its low-lying districts, the deposits of the Rhine, 
Meuse, and Scheldt, was readily accessible by means of 



94 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

its watery highways, and being compelled to depend 
on outside sources for sustenance was driven to the sea 
and to trade to sustain its very existence. 

While the Spaniards had been engaged in a deadly 
struggle with the Moors which produced a form of 
chivalry and knightly etiquette, the Dutch had forsaken 
the power of the sword for that of gold. " Commercial 
republicanism had coiled itself around the decaying 
trunk of feudal despotism." 

Thus the alliance of Spain and the Netherlands 
which had been effected by a series of well-timed 
marriages was foredoomed to be disagreeable and dis- 
advantageous. 

Before proceeding to notice the actual conflict be- 
tween the Spaniards and the Dutch, let us look more 
closely at the growth of the sea power of the latter. 
In the time of the earliest records, the Batavians who 
dwelt in the island between the two-horned Rhine 
were noted as the bravest of the Germans. It is 
probable that, just as in later times the Celts and 
Teutons were thrown together in Britain, and forced 
to some extent to commingle, so on the shores of the 
North Sea where the same two races had been forced 
to flow back, they united to produce that type of 
manhood which like that of the English knew no 
defeat, and which would on occasion fight for four 
uninterrupted days and nights. 

As the Rhine is one of the great arteries of Europe, 
and a ready means of communication between Italy 
and the North Sea, it was but to be expected that the 
Dutch would reap a full share of the eastern trade. 
Moreover, as the products from the Baltic were of 
importance, especially for shipping, the Netherlands 
became the natural focus for these north-and-south 
routes. 

The fisheries also of Holland were of enormous im- 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 95 

portance, and this was especially the case when the 
people of Zealand discovered a satisfactory method of 
curing their herrings. 

Even the foregoing trade advantages were perhaps 
eclipsed by the fact that the Dutch towns were the 
marts for English wool and the goods which had been 
made by the skilful Flemish weavers. 

The time of the decline in the Indian trade along the 
overland route which saw the grass grow in the streets 
of Bruges, and seaweed cluster about the marble halls of 
Venice, saw Spain raised to a position of great affluence 
through the discovery of America. This was soon 
followed by the religious movement known as the 
Reformation, and the breach between Spain and Hol- 
land was consummated by the events which followed 
the adoption of Protestantism by the Dutch. 

In the contest which ensued, leaders were found in 
the House of Orange, but the ultimate issue depended 
on the ability of the Dutch to maintain their power 
on the sea. 

The struggle had momentous issues. Portugal with 
its colonies and possessions had become a dependency 
of Spain, and Philip II of that country in order to 
avenge himself on the United Netherlands shut them 
out from all commerce with the east. 

This had the contrary eflFect to that which was 
intended. The Dutch set themselves to obtain sta- 
tions of their own, and managed to secure trading posts 
on the Malabar coast of India, to arrange trading re- 
lations with Sumatra, and eventually to get possession 
of the Moluccas, and thereby of the spice monopoly. 

They established themselves in the island of Java, 
and revived the old name of Holland, by founding the 
city of Batavia, and completing the allusion by select- 
ing a swamp for its site. 

They gained still further successes. They drove 



96 ^ THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the Portuguese from their factory at Malacca, and 
displaced them in Ceylon. Their trade with the east 
became so important that they established a colony at 
the Cape of Good Hope, which should be both of 
strategical value, and a convenient halting place for 
their ships. 

In the New World, one of their first attempts was to 
occupy a site on the Demerara river in Guiana. Here 
again the situation strongly resembled that of Holland. 
The surface was on a level with the sea at high water 
and required dykes and sluices. 

While in the service of the Dutch, the Englishman, 
Henry Hudson, surveyed the river which now bears his 
name, and about 150 miles from its mouth the Dutch 
West India Company built the fort of " Orange " as 
a market for the fur trade. But the corporation of 
Amsterdam bought up the rights of the Company, 
and founded the town of New Amsterdam on Man- 
hattan Island, and thus took advantage of the best 
harbour on the whole of the coast. 



THE FRENCH IN THE NEW WORLD 

Though the English, under the Cabots, were the 
first to reach the more northerly portions of the 
American continent, it was the French who made 
the most extensive explorations. Francis I had said 
that he should want to see Adams will before he 
should consent to the joint partition of America be- 
tween the kings of Spain and Portugal, and with 
this same non-recognition of the Spanish and Portu- 
guese claims Jacques Cartier and some Bretons sailed 
on a voyage of exploration to the coasts of New- 
foundland and Labrador. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



97 



On the island between these two lands they con- 
ferred the name of Belle Isle, borrowing the name 
from the island off Brittany. Thus at the present 
time we have evidence of their presence at the two 
opposite points of Newfoundland, for the south-eastern 
headland was called Cape Race from the cape of that 
name on the coast of Brittany. The arrival of the 
French is shown also in the name of Cape Breton 
Island. 

Cartier passed on into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and on a sunny day in July conferred on the bay 
south of the great estuary of the St. Lawrence the 
name of " Des Chaleurs", which calls to mind the 
heat expressed in "California". 

On August 10, the festival of St. Lawrence, Cartier 
and his confreres came to a small bay which they 
named in honour of that Saint, and this name passed 
afterwards to the river and to the great gulf which 
receives its waters. 

Sailing on, Cartier reached a hill to which he gave 
the name of Mont Royal, since compounded into 
Montreal. From this height he surveyed the noble 
prospect of wood and water spread out before him, 
and learned of the mighty rivers, lakes, and boundless 
lands that were stocked with game. 

If July's heat called for remark, the winter's cold 
called for careful preparations, and Cartier, who had 
not provided for the severity of the Canadian frost, lost 
many of his men, and his account of the winter hard- 
ships did much to discourage intending settlers. 

Cartier discerned that though there was great wealth 
in the sea-fisheries on the shallow shores around New- 
foundland, yet there was even greater attraction for 
the French in the fur trade. For the exigencies of 
this, it was necessary to fix stations over a wide 
area, and the scattered character of the "New France" 

(C345) 7 



98 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

which grew up, on this account, made the colony 
a giant Colossus, with feet of clay. 

Cartier built the first European forts at Cape Rouge, 
seven miles above Quebec, and at Charlesbourg 
close to Quebec. 

The real founder of the French dominion in Canada 
was Champlain. His policy was directed to the building 
up of the fur trade, and with this in view he allied 
himself with the tribe of Indians known as the 
Hurons, who lived towards the unknown west. Such 
an alliance necessarily brought him into conflict with 
the enemies of the Hurons, the Iroquois, who lived 
towards the east and the south-east. 

It was in his campaign against the Iroquois that 
Champlain first explored the region where Lake Champ- 
lain still bears his name. Little did he think that by his 
action he was creating in the breasts of the Iroquois an 
inveterate hatred which would eventually be an im- 
portant factor in the loss of the colony to his country. 

But the day of the Iroquois was not yet. With 
the assistance of the Hurons, Champlain explored 
the land on all sides of the St. Lawrence, on the 
south-east along Lake Champlain, towards the north 
along the middle Saguenay, and on the west reached 
Lake Huron, though he arrived at the latter by way 
of Ottawa and Nipissing without obtaining any 
knowledge of the wonderful system of the " Great 
Lakes". 

The British however during this time were not 
entirely quiescent in these latitudes. Though the 
French had first explored the Bay of Fundy, to 
which they had given the name of " La Grande Baye 
Fran9aise", and given also names to St. Croix, Maine, 
and St. John's (whose bay was entered on St. John 
the Baptist's Day, June 24). Alexander, a Scotsman, 
obtained from James I a charter empowering him 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 99 

to colonize the land, which from the nationality of 
the grantor and the grantee obtained the name of 
Nova Scotia. 

For long years Montreal was the chief seat of 
the fur trade, being as it were on the edge of the 
mysterious land in which the Indians searched the 
numerous streams in pursuit of the beaver, and from 
which they annually emerged with their burden of 
beaver skins, which were used as the units of value 
and currency. 

At Montreal was built the permanent seat of 
government. Fort St. Louis, which bristled with the 
cannon placed to guard against all attacks and sur- 
prises. Quebec was similarly defended, and later 
another fortified town was placed between them at 
"Three Rivers". 

The celebrated Governor, De Frontenac, built a 
fort at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. For many 
years it was called by his name, but afterwards had 
its name changed to Kingston. Its strategical position 
is still shown by its fortifications, which rank next 
to those of Halifax and Quebec. 

The ascendancy of the French was provided for, 
not only in forts, but also in the various mission 
stations. The work of the Jesuit fathers is especially 
noteworthy. One of their number found his way 
to the region north of Lake Superior, and returned 
to Quebec to report of the vast " fields " in that region, 
which thus got the name of "Prairies" (meadows). 

About the middle of the eighteenth century the 
French took possession of Sault Ste. Marie, and no 
grander spot could have been found for the formal 
proclamation than that where the silence of the 
illimitable forest was broken by the roar of the mighty 
waters when Lake Superior, after a mile of seething 
foam, begins to empty itself into Lake Huron. 



loo THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Up to the establishment of the station of Sault Ste. 
Marie, the French had looked forward to the dis- 
covery of a western route to the seas of Cathay, 
but as they journeyed westward they gave greater 
credence to the stories of the Indians about the 
"Father of Waters", and at last two of their number 
resolved to fathom the mystery. 

Following the beaten track, they passed up the 
Fox River, and, under the guide of Indians, had only 
to carry their canoes overland a distance of two 
miles before they were able to launch them on a 
branch of the Wisconsin. 

Thus they reached the Mississippi, but on reaching 
the mouth of the Arkansas they turned back, wishing 
to avoid complications with the Spaniards, It was 
left for La Salle to explore the whole of the river's 
course as far as its mouth, and he called the new 
district Louisiana. In later times New Orleans 
was built, which serves, like Louisiana, to remind us 
of its French origin. 

The establishment of the French along the St. 
Lawrence and the Mississippi meant the "cornering" 
of the New England States, and the intentions of 
the French thereupon soon took concrete shape. 

On the land side there were two routes from 
the English colony, the one through the Appalachian 
Mountains by means of the Cumberland Gap, and 
the other by wa}^ of the Hudson River and the 
Mohawk Valley. The French commanded the first 
by the building of Fort Duquesne (the modern Pitts- 
burg), and endangered the second by the establishment 
of forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, while 
Louisberg was built on Cape Breton Island to shut 
the Enghsh from the Newfoundland fisheries. 

The rivalry between the two powers became more 
and more embittered till their fortunes were decided 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY loi 

on the Heights of Abraham, and Wolfe secured the 
supremacy for British interests. 



ENGLISH COLONISTS IN THE 
NEW WORLD 

The Spaniards having settled in Florida, and the 
French having made their stations on the St. Lawrence, 
the English had no choice but to content themselves 
with the intermediate lands. 

They were the last in the field, but their settlements 
managed to outlive the others. Differences of race 
are partly accountable for this, but differences of 
districts were contributory causes. Over a large part 
of the Spanish territory, the climate was too hot for 
exertion to be pleasurable. The temperate lands of 
the English, on the other hand, were calculated to 
produce energy and foresight. The summers yielded 
abundant harvests, though the long cold winters neces- 
sitated the storage of supplies. 

The French territory in America possessed a climate 
which was more favourable to industry than the Spanish, 
but one of its greatest drawbacks was the way in 
which the settlers were scattered over a large area. 

The EngHsh, on the contrary, were hemmed in 
by forest-covered mountains on the west, and on 
the north and the south the presence of the French 
and the Spaniards made them keep close together, 
and be prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder should 
trouble arise. Thus the New England States from 
their restricted area formed a splendid nursery for a 
young nation, till the strength which comes from 
consolidation was sufficient to break all bounds, and 
carry the people from one ocean to the other. 



I02 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The differences which grew up between the States 
will be considered later. We will now see how 
the Tudor and Stuart history is written on the map 
of America. 

Frobisher Bay and Davis Strait recall the names 
of two of the Elizabethan captains, who tried to 
discover a north-west passage to India. 

The names of Raleigh and Virginia serve to remind 
us of the efforts of the former to found a colony in 
honour of the "Virgin Queen". This was the 
basis of later successful attempts made by the London 
and the Plymouth Companies, and Jameston, named 
in honour of the first Stuart king, became the first 
permanent British settlement. 

Virginia was designed to be a new home for those 
who were in need ; as the Dissolution of the Monas- 
teries had caused considerable distress among the people 
who had been dependent on their work and bounty. 

The next settlement at Plymouth was created by 
those who wished to obtain freedom for their own 
religious worship, and the name of Plymouth was 
designed to mark the two limits of the voyage of the 
Mayflower. 

Maryland, named in honour of Queen Henrietta 
Maria, was intended as a refuge for the Roman Ca- 
tholics, especially those who were in difficulties in 
Ireland. 

The Commonwealth is remembered not only be- 
cause many colonists from New England migrated to 
the recently conquered island of Jamaica, but because 
as part of the " Cromwellian settlement " of Ireland 
thousands were sent to work as slaves in the English 
West Indian Islands. 

The developments in the reign of Charles II were 
particularly noteworthy. The Dutch who had planted 
themselves at the mouth of the Hudson River, were 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 103 

deprived of their settlement, which was called New 
Netherlands, and their chief station, whose name was 
New Amsterdam, was changed to that of New York 
in honour of the king's brother. 

Prince Rupert's land, the alternative name of the 
Hudson Bay Territory, calls to mind that Prince 
Rupert obtained a charter from his cousin Charles II • 
for trading in that region. 

The echo of the great Civil War in England is 
heard in the establishment of the Carolinas, which 
were meant to compensate the Royalists, who had 
suffered great losses in that war. 

Part of the New Netherlands was sold to Cartaret, 
who had defended Jersey against the Parliamentary 
forces, and in his honour the colony was called New 
Jersey. 

William Penn, whose name is a watchword for fair 
treatment to the Indians, tried to secure among the 
" States " a refuge for his persecuted brethren, the 
Quakers, and his station of Philadelphia, " brotherly 
love ", formed the new colony of Pennsylvania. Its 
name is doubly expressive. Not only does it com- 
memorate the founder, but it marks the movement 
of the emigrants along and beyond the Appalachian 
Heights. 

Annapolis recalls an event in the War of the Spanish 
Succession, where the English colonists captured Port 
Royal, the chief fort in Acadia, and changed its name 
in honour of Queen Anne. 

Georgia brings us to Hanoverian times, and just 
as the first of the American colonies was intended 
to help the poor and the needy, so the last of the 
" thirteen " was designed to give debtors a new start 
in life, instead of compelling them to lead useless and 
miserable lives in the pestilential gaols of that period. 



I04 THE ASSOCIATION OF 



THE 
UNITED STATES (NORTH AND SOUTH) 

The early settlement of Virginia and Plymouth 
embodies the two divergent features which ultimately 
led to the war between the northern and the southern 
states. 

Much of the land of Virginia fell into the hands 
of large landowners whose estates were a marked 
contrast to the properties of the yeomen and the 
cottagers of Plymouth. The cultivation of tobacco 
in the southern state accentuated the growth of a 
scattered mode of life. Tobacco rapidly impoverishes 
a soil, and necessitates the taking of fresh lands into 
cultivation. 

The colonists of Plymouth, who were settled in 
a more rigorous climate, had to busy themselves with 
providing food from their own soil, and their lands 
were parcelled out in sufficient extent to allow of the 
growth of corn for each household. Moreover they 
attached the greatest importance to the privilege of 
worshipping frequently together, and so kept their 
townships close to each other. 

The cultivation of tobacco caused the Virginians 
to make frequent removals from district to district, 
and in this they were assisted by their rivers; but 
the New Englanders, with a fearful eye upon the 
Red Indians, kept along the coast, and of the eight 
townships first formed, seven were by the sea. 

Speaking generally, the climate and soil of the 
Southern States were suited to the growth of rice 
and tobacco, but the heat, and in parts the unwhole- 
some air, especially of the rice swamps of Carolina, 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 105 

made it difficult for Europeans to work, and slave 
labour became usual. 

In the north, on the other hand, the system of 
mixed farming required intelligence and care, and 
therefore slaves were useless. The supply of labour 
of other kinds being limited, the colonists turned their 
attention to labour-saving devices, and the " inven- 
tions " in the New England States for agricultural 
operations became famous. 

Yet the period of concentration was for the New 
Englanders but the time of preparation for expansion. 
When natural difficulties were overcome, and the 
dangers from the Red Indians were removed, there 
was an unlimited field opened for the liberty of the 
individual. The older civilizations of Europe ham- 
pered and hemmed in each man according to the 
narrow sphere in which he was born. The New 
World with its boundless opportunities forced him 
to employ all the faculties he possessed. 

Whatever part was played by man in shaping the 
destinies of the states of the north and the south, it 
was Nature herself that indicated New York as the 
focus of the land. 

Not only do the lines of the Alleghanies and the 
coast converge thither, but it has easy access to the 
north and the east. By the Hudson River route it 
can reach the St. Lawrence. By that of the Mohawk, 
it can communicate with the Great Lakes and the 
valleys and streams connected with the Mississippi. 
Its commercial advantages together with the recogni- 
tion of the " rights of conscience " by its founders, the 
Dutch, made it a cosmopolitan centre from the outset. 



io6 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

THE WONDERLAND OF THE EAST 

(Part I) 

India, the dream of the discoverers and explorers 
of the Middle Ages, has an inhospitable exterior. 
Approached by way of the sea, it offers but poor 
accommodation for ships. From its triangular form, 
the proportion of coast hne to the whole length of 
its boundaries is small. Backed by the precipitous 
Western Ghauts, its Malabar coast forms an almost 
unbroken line with at best only two serviceable har- 
bours. 

The eastern coast, though lower than the western, 
is also inconvenient for navigation, as the swell of the 
Bay of Bengal breaks upon its shore with great 
violence. 

The rivers Indus and Ganges, which at first sight 
one would expect to form good highways from the 
coast to the interior, are almost worthless for shipping. 
Their sources are at such a height that they retain 
the pace of mountain torrents, after their breadth 
and depth have acquired the standard of navigable 
rivers. 

The Ganges and the Brahmaputra are superior to 
the Indus, for their long detour enables them to 
acquire a more gradual fall. The lower Ganges is 
a great highway for native boats, and by the Hugh 
mouth large steamers reach Calcutta. The Indus, 
with a direction at right angles to its watershed, can- 
not be better described than in the title of the early 
Aryans who called it the " Rusher " (Sindhu), a term 
which became transmuted into " Hindu " and then 
into Indus. 

But the hindrance to navigation comes not only 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 107 

from the strong current of the rivers. It comes also 
from the choking up of their channels with silt. From 
this cause the land around the mouths of the Ganges 
and Brahmaputra is so filled with sand that it is one 
huge swamp. The Indus is choked to such an extent 
that it is hardly fit for sea-going vessels at all. 

The inaccessibility of India had much to do with 
the mystery which grew up around its name. But 
if its sea-coast is forbidding its land boundaries are a 
thousand times more so. Yet Nature's greatest gifts 
to India are contained in these mighty Himalayas, the 
"abode of snow". In the case of Babylon and Egypt, 
it was the rivers which provided the elements of great- 
ness. In India, it was the impenetrable boundary wall 
which forbade approach, not only from its height, 
but still more from its compactness, shielding the land 
on the south from the rude blasts of the north wind, 
and protecting it likewise from the equally rude men 
who came from the " back of the north wind ". 

But for the gaps on the north-west, which the 
Hindu Kush and the Suleiman Mountains leave in the 
defence of the land, India would have been completely 
isolated on the land side. 

Great as has been the service of the Himalayas in 
the cause of defence, greater has been their service in 
the cause of sustenance. From the vast expanse of the 
Indian Ocean, month by month, while the sun is north 
of the Equator, the accumulated vapours are drawn to 
the colder highlands of Asia, until, dashed against the 
stormy breasts and double wall of the Himalayas, they 
discharge their torrents of rain and leave the Central 
Tableland to suffer from drought and comparative 
barrenness. 

Yet the rainfall, along the whole length of the 
Himalayas is by no means uniform. Some of the 
drifted moisture is intercepted by the Western Ghauts, 



io8 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the Suleiman Mountains, and by the Vindhya Heights, 
whose southern slopes resemble the weather-beaten 
coast of a stormy sea. 

There are thus diflFerent rainfalls, according to the 
position of the localities. Assam, elevated on a tier of 
the mountains, has the highest rainfall in the world 
(481 inches). The Punjab Highlands have a rainfall 
of 125 inches, while east of the valley of the Indus is 
a thirsty desert district, and the Bind is practically 
rainless. 

The varying supplies of water and rain to the differ- 
ent districts can be deduced from the distribution of 
the population, and from the distribution of the various 
vegetable products. 

Where the effects of the tropical heat can be miti- 
gated by the streams and irrigation, there people are 
congested; though exception to this statement must 
be made in the case of low-lying swampy ground. 

The climatic districts are shown still more clearly in 
the case of plants, for in these the limits of adaptation 
are more restricted. 

Thus rice being a swamp-lover grows in low tropi- 
cal alluvial lands, especially in districts liable to flood. 
It is therefore found on the Malabar Coast, in the 
Gangetic Plain, the Indus Valley, and the Deltas 
round the Bay of Bengal. 

Wheat, on the other hand, requires a dry climate. 
It is cultivated in the Punjab, the North-West Pro- 
vinces, and in the northern portion of the Deccan. 

Cotton requires warmth with a good supply of rain 
or irrigation. It flourishes best in the Deccan, on the 
black soil which is able to hold water for a long time 
after the rain has ceased. 

Jute requires warmth and damp, and thus flourishes 
better in Bengal than in any other part of the world. 

The tea plant needs a warm temperature and 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 109 

abundance of moisture, but is injured if water collects 
at its roots. It grows best therefore on hillsides, and 
Assam, which can supply all its conditions for cultiva- 
tion, has become one of the greatest tea-growing dis- 
tricts of the world. 



THE WONDERLAND OF THE EAST 

(Part II) 

The same broad features in the history of India 
have been repeated time and time again. Through 
the passes on the north-west, warlike tribes from the 
north have swooped down on the sunny lands of the 
Five Rivers, and on the alluvial districts of the Jumna 
and Ganges, conquering their helpless inhabitants. 

Then in the enervating lowlands, removed from the 
bracing sea breezes and the invigorating mountain air, 
the strong arm and the brave heart of the warrior have 
changed, and the men of action have become dreamers 
and idlers, till a fresh set of conquerors appeared to sup- 
plant them in their turn. 

The first invading race known to history, whose in- 
vasion occurred perhaps 2000 years before Christ, was 
the Aryan, and their occupation of the north drove the 
earlier inhabitants to the hill country north and south. 

Traces of these first inhabitants, both black and 
yellow, can still be found in the various "hill" tribes. 
The Ghurkas and the Nepalese, who possess the lower 
slopes of the Himalayas, bear marks of the Mongolian 
origin, and in their hardiness and bravery resemble the 
Japanese of the present day. 

In its barest outline, the history of India has three 
main epochs. The first is the contest between the 
Aryans and the people whom they supplanted (the 



no THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Dravidians). The next is the struggle between the 
religions, Brahmanism and Mohammedanism. The 
third is the competition for economic exploitation 
which originated from outside. 

It was the advance of the Aryans along the banks of 
the Indus, that gave the name of India to the whole 
land. In their Veda we can read of their wonderment 
at the "rushing" stream, and this gave place to a 
reverence of the Himalayas as the giver of good which 
we find expressed in the name of Brahmaputra the 
"son of God". 

The Aryan stages of conquest can be approximately 
fixed. First they acquired the land of the Five Rivers, 
then the land between the Ganges and the Jumna. 
Then they moved eastwards to the Ganges delta, 
while another branch reached the district of Gujerat 
and the lands lying around the mouths of the Taptee 
and Nerbudda. 

The highlands of Central India formed the broad 
line of demarcation between the Aryan and the 
Dravidian races. 

The haughty contempt with which the tall fair- 
complexioned Aryans regarded the people they dis- 
placed is very freely expressed in their Vedic writings. 
They spoke of the older inhabitants as "slaves" "of 
low class" "possessing an unintelligible jargon". 
They call attention to their black skins, snub noses, 
and ugly figures. 

In the mighty gulf thus fixed between the con- 
querors and the conquered, we read the origin of 
"caste", and this is confirmed by the old Aryan 
name for caste being "colour" (varna). 

The primary caste elements were developed into 
a system, till the whole of society was founded on 
its basis. It was explained symbolically from the 
parts of the body. The Brahmans, or "priestly" 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY iii 

caste, being represented by the mouth that speaks 
" sanctity and truth", the " miHtary" caste was symbol- 
ized by the arms, the organs of " power and strength ", 
the workers who gave "riches and possession" were 
typified by the thighs, and lastly the feet which 
ever tread the dust of the earth was the emblem of 
those destined "to service and obedience". 

At the present day the physical contrast between 
the peoples of India as we proceed from the north- 
west to the Ganges territory tells of the Aryan in- 
vasion, where complete displacement in the north- 
west shades off into partial fusion as we go eastward. 
In the Punjab and Kashmir, and to a less degree 
in Rajputana, hardly a trace of the original population 
can be found. Farther to the east the mixed race 
appears in the evidence of darker complexions and 
broader features and noses. 

The seventh century of our era saw the Moham- 
medan invaders sweep across Northern India vowing 
to root out all disbelief in the One True God, and 
in Mohammed as His Prophet, slaying Brahman priest 
and Buddhist monk alike. Raid after raid was made 
till a settlement was fixed in the Punjab. 

A more violent storm broke over the land when 
Timur or Tamerlane brought his Tartar hosts on- 
wards to Delhi, towards the end of the fourteenth 
century, and though he retreated with the hoarded-up 
wealth of centuries a successor appeared thirty years 
later to establish the line of Moguls, that is of Mon- 
gol emperors, whose rule extended over the whole 
of India north of the Vindhya Mountains. 

The cities of these Moguls were adorned with 
stately palaces and mosques, tombs and temples, and 
Delhi the capital became in architectural splendour 
the "Rome" of the land. 

At the time when Europeans were preparing to 



112 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

struggle for the mastery in India, the power of the 
Moguls was crumbling in decay. Ever since the 
ascendancy of the Mohammedans, there had been 
the twofold antagonism of race and religion. Though 
the Hindus formed the majority of the people they 
were ignored, and conseq.uently they repaid contempt 
with hatred. 

When there were signs of decay the Hindus began 
to assert themselves. The Rajput princes of Rajputana 
compelled an acknowledgment of their rights. The 
Sikhs of the Punjab who were banded together for 
religious organization changed their confederacy into 
a political one, while the Mahrattas made good their 
claim for recognition in the provinces of the south. 



THE WONDERLAND OF THE EAST 
(Part III) 

The third great epoch of Indian history opens with 
the competition of the nations of western Europe 
for the establishment of trading centres or "factories". 

As, was natural, from the relative positions of the 
two lands, the first European settlements in India 
were placed on the western coast, the first English 
station being at Surat. 

But the Western Ghauts, rising almost directly from 
the shore, hinder communication between the Malabar 
coast and the interior, consequently trading settlements 
were soon added on the more convenient Coromandel 
coast. 

The Eastern Ghauts are of lower elevation than the 
Western. They are not continuous, and leave between 
themselves and the shore a plain, the Carnatic. It 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 113 

was in this plain that the subsequent fortunes of 
India were decided. 

Probably the English East India Company would 
have been content to have confined themselves solely 
to trade, had it not been for the ambition of the 
French. Dupleix, the able governor of Pondicherry, 
recognized in the unsettled state of the Deccan a 
golden opportunity whereby he might secure for his 
country the spoils of Empire, and for this end he 
trained a number of native soldiers, a device which 
his rivals readily followed with even greater success. 

The statesmanship of Dupleix had to be matched 
against the mihtary genius of Clive, and in the event, 
British interests were established throughout the Deccan, 
except in Mysore, the Nizam's Principality, and the 
lands around the Western Ghauts, where the Mahrattas 
held sway. 

But it fell to the lot of Clive to secure even greater 
conquests. The Nawab of Bengal having made an 
unprovoked attack on the British at Calcutta, Clive 
transferred his men from Madras to the banks of 
the Hugli, and at Plassey gained a complete victory. 
This secured the British in the possession of Bengal, 
Behar, and Orissa, and, what was of even greater 
importance, it made the profoundest impression on the 
minds of the natives. 

Clive with true soldier-like instinct, and Warren 
Hastings with statesmanlike ability, then turned to 
consolidate British power in the north, recognizing 
that therein lay the key to the ultimate mastery of 
the whole land. The people of Bengal were readily 
subservient, and thus the British Empire spread along 
the banks of the Ganges till it reached Benares, 
and then extended to the Himalayas, thus affording 
men and resources whereby the south and the west 
were brought within the same Empire. 

(C345) 8 



114 



THE ASSOCIATION OF 



The days of Napoleon had their influence on Indian 
affairs. Tipu " the Tiger " of Mysore appealed to the 
French for assistance to drive the British out of 
India, and as the forces of the Nizam at Haiderabad 
at this time were officered by the French, the danger 
to Britain was very real. 

The Governor- General Lord Mornington, later 
known as Marquis Wellesley, brother of Arthur 
Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, dealt 
firmly with the situation, and though native rulers 
were still continued at Seringapatam and Haidarabad, 
their states were brought under British influence. 

The greatest difficulty occurred with the Mahrattas, 
who as the most warlike of the descendants of the 
early Aryans seemed destined to re-establish their rule 
on the ruin of that of the Moguls. 

The seat of this resuscitated Hindu power was 
in the difficult country of the Western Ghauts, and, 
spreading thence, the Mahratta influence became 
supreme over the whole of Central India. 

The terrors of the Mahratta horsemen were wide- 
spread, extending even to Bengal, and the fortifications 
of Calcutta built before Plassey include the " Mahratta" 
ditch. 

But Colonel Arthur Wellesley, by his great victory 
at Assaye, practically decided that the Mahrattas should 
be subordinated to the British, and, subsequent to the 
Mahratta wars, British authority was acknowledged 
along the Basin of the Ganges, as far as the Sutlej. 

Even then the time had not come for the sheathing 
of the sword, and between the battles which destroyed 
the political power of the Mahrattas, and the sharp 
contest with the Sikhs, the British had to fight with 
the Gurkhas and the Burmese. 

The former were separated from the lowland plain 
by the swampy forest land known as the Terai, and to 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 115 

threats of war, replied that the soldiers of the East 
India Company had failed to take their fortress of 
Bhartpur, " how then was it likely that they should 
storm the mountain fastnesses constructed by the hand 
of God?" 

In the sequel, a small strip of hill country was ceded 
to the British, and on this has arisen Simla, and other 
hill stations which have greatly obviated the climatic 
difficulties incident to the government of India. 

The Burmese War proved an expensive lesson on 
the geography of the land of Burmah which up to that 
time had been unknown. Its people were of Tibeto- 
Chinese origin, with the Mongolian type of features. 
The British had to force their advance through dense 
fever-stricken jungles, and they were opposed at every 
turn by stockades of interlaced trees and bamboos, 
against which artillery was of little avail. 

After great losses, the British were glad to conclude 
peace, and the King of Ava agreed to cede Arakan and 
Tennasserim and relinquish his claim to Assam. 

The rapid advance of the Russians towards the 
frontier of India caused the British some dismay, 
and the Govenor-General in 1838 unwisely decided 
to invade Afghanistan. His expedition had to proceed 
by way of the Bolan Pass, for the way through the 
Khaiber Pass lay across the territories of the high- 
spirited Sikhs. The Afghan expedition proved disas- 
trous, and its objects had to be abandoned, but one 
of the direct results was the conquest by Sir Charles 
Napier of Sind, which was originally subordinate to 
Afghanistan. 

The death of Ranjit Singh, the Lion of Lahore, in 
1839, threw the Sikh State into confusion, and led at 
last to the annexation of the Punjab to the British 
dominions, and such was the loyalty of the Sikhs to 
the new government, that when the terrible mutiny 



ii6 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

broke out, they stood' firm, and fought willingly to 
re-establish the power of their foreign rulers. 



THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE 

Whatever may be said about the mystery which 
enshrouds the early history of India, may be asserted 
with double force about China. The original home 
of the Chinese cannot be fixed with any certainty, 
though there is a convergency of opinion to show that 
ft was near the shores of the Caspian Sea. 

They belonged to the tribes which are conveniently 
grouped around the name of Turanian, a name which 
is still preserved to us in the Turks. 

The members of the Turanian family have an out- 
standing feauture common to all, viz. an incapacity to 
make continuous progress. Their development always 
stops short after the earliest stages. Their language 
shows this. Their inventions prove it. The mariner's 
compass, the making of gunpowder, and the process of 
printing were known to the Chinese long years before 
they appeared in Europe, but they were not applied to 
any useful or practical purpose. 

It seems in several instances as though the Turanians 
had the original genius to invent yet could go no 
further. Others stepped in at every stage to improve 
what they had begun. 

The Chinese would appear to have passed from the 
Caspian Sea to the banks of the Hoang-Ho or Yellow 
River, where a large part of their history was worked 
out. Their wealth in this river basin was always a 
source of temptation to their robber-brethren, who 
had remained on the grassy uplands of Mongolia and 
the plains of Manchuria, and Tartars, Mongols, and 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



17 



Manchus in turn succeeded in enforcing their will 
on the weaker members of the south. 

The eflForts of the Chinese to keep out the nomadic 
Tartar tribes can be read in the building of the Great 
Wall, that marvellous monument of human industry 
which has always been accounted one of the seven 
wonders of the world. 

The same story of trouble can be deciphered in the 
two " courts " at Pe-king (the court of the north) and 
Nan-king (the court of the south). 

China presents a striking parallel to India in the 
provision for its isolation. Confining ourselves to 
China proper, we note that it is skirted on the north 
by the great desert of Mongolia, and that it is accessible 
on that side only by a few mountain passes. 

On the west, it is shut off from the rest of Asia by 
the vast tableland of Tibet, whilst high mountains and 
deep valleys separate it from India on the south-west. 

Moreover, the land is remarkably compact, being 
almost oval in shape, and its coast presents a most 
regular outline and formation. 

This natural seclusion was made the basis of a public 
policy of exclusion by the Manchus, and it has been 
suggested that their policy was directed by the idea 
that, being relatively few in numbers, they might be 
ousted by outsiders, and thus robbed of their prey. 

The north of China presents another remarkable 
similarity to the north of India in the richness of its 
soil. It is covered with a yellow soil of great fertility, 
so that crops can be produced without manure and 
with little labour. 

No wonder then that "yellow" looms large in the 
names and ideas of the Chinese. It is the national 
colour. It gives its name to the Hoang-Ho and the 
Yellow Sea. The Emperor has for one of his nume- 
rous titles that of the " Ruler of the Yellow ". 



ii8 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

But as advantages are always accompanied by dis- 
advantages, so the yellow soil has inconveniences of 
its own. It is soft and so is easily washed away from 
the rivers' banks whose waters are thus apt to wander 
over wide channels and even to change their course. 
With a great pressure of water the Hoang-Ho bursts 
its banks, and causes widespread inundations. 

It has therefore been called " China's sorrow ", and 
the Chinese have borne in mind its dangerous pro- 
pensities when they fixed the sites for their cities. 
Whereas the Yangtze-kiang had a most remarkable 
succession of large towns on its banks, all the great 
towns in the basin of the Hoang-Ho lie some miles 
from the river banks. 

Another factor that has contributed to the same end 
is that the channel of the Hoang-Ho is being constantly 
filled up with loads of yellow soil while the Yangtze 
is the great navigable artery of China. 

Over the wide area which China covers there must 
necessarily be diversities of climate, but there is a good 
range between the winter and the summer temperatures 
in all parts, and this assists in making the Chinese the 
finest colonists in the world. 

Yet there is a noticeable difference in this respect 
between the north and the south of the land, and the 
difference in climate is clearly marked in the differ- 
ences of production and the ways of the inhabi- 
tants. 

Between the basins of the Yellow River and the 
Yangtze is a branch of the Kuen-lun Mountains 
which will serve to make a convenient division of the 
land for its main climatic districts. 

To the south of this range are to be found boats and 
porters, reed plains and rice fields, cotton plants and 
bamboo woods, tea plants and sugar canes. In the 
north, boats and porters are replaced by carts and 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 119 

ponies. The vegetable productions are Indian corn 
and millet, wheat and oats. 

The southerner is more refined, the northerner more 
vigorous. In the south the bamboo supplies all the 
materials for the house, walls, and furniture, and even 
provides delicacies for the table. In the north, its 
place is taken by the millet which gives material for 
the cottages, straw for fuel, and grain for food. 

Thus the patient plodding Chinaman with but few 
wants, and those readily supplied, has always been a 
peace-loving individual, asking only to be left alone. 



AUSTRALASIA 



Australia, like China, stands on the margin of the 
Old World. The dense Malayan group of islands 
on the north-west forms a connecting link with the 
mainland of Asia, and it is most probable that the 
Australian native tribes crossed by this bridge. 

They bear the impress of isolation, and no doubt 
their marginal position was emphasized by the lack 
of internal advantages to modify that position. The 
parts of the land nearest Asia are especially sterile and 
desolate, and there is little cause for wonder therefore 
that sailors approaching the land from the west reported 
that it was some of the poorest in the world. 

This was the opinion of Dirk Hartog who landed 
near Shark Bay, of Dampier whose name is recalled 
in Dampier's Archipelago, and of Abel Tasman, from 
whom the island of Tasmania was named. 

The Dutch, who were in search of Spice Islands, 
and any accessories to their trade, saw no advantage 
in the land. They did not seek to found colonies 
or settlements, in fact their population was not such 
as could supply large colonial needs. 



I20 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Nevertheless it was but a short passage for them 
to go from their last Indian possessions to " New 
Holland ", and though this name was afterwards 
changed to *' Australia " (the southern land), the name 
of New Zealand which was given to the other islands 
of the South Seas still remains to speak of Dutch 
explorers. 

The history of Australia, so far as the British are 
concerned, starts with the explorations of Captain 
Cook. Cook was entrusted by the Royal Society 
with an expedition to the Pacific, where his visit is 
still recorded in the name " Society *' Islands. 

Sailing on to Australia he approached the island 
from the eastern side, coasted nearly the whole of its 
length, and found how erroneous had been the im- 
pressions of those who had seen the great "southern 
land " only from its western side. Some parts of the 
shore reminded the sailors of that of South Wales as 
seen from the port of Bristol, and thus arose the name 
of New South Wales. Botany Bay was named from 
its profusion of strange plants. 

The discoveries of Cook seemed most opportune. 
The attempts of the mother country to enforce tax- 
ation on the North American Colonies, and their 
subsequent loss, caused the British to look abroad for 
new convict settlements. Up to that time the Caro- 
linas had been a convenient dumping - ground for 
British felons, and in 1783 Parliament discussed three 
possible substitutes, Gibraltar, Gambia, and Botany 
Bay. The first was obviously too small, the second 
would have meant " the execution of capital punish- 
ment by malaria", so that the choice fell on the 
third. 

The first batch of convicts to the South Seas was 
sent out under the command of Captain Arthur 
Phillip, who found that Botany Bay had nothing to 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 121 

recommend it as a settlement, but that near by was 
a roomy inlet, which Cook had passed by without 
examination. It formed a vast harbour with many 
coves, and to the principal one was given the name 
of Sydney, in honour of Viscount Sydney the Colonial 
Secretary, under whose direction the expedition had 
been sent out. Thus was the start given to the colony 
of New South Wales. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century. Colonel 
Lachlan Macquarie entered on his office as Governor 
of the colony, and proceeded to effect some desirable 
reforms. He saw that the best way of reforming the 
convicts was to sow in them the seeds of self-respect, 
and to make them freemen as expeditiously as possible. 

At the time of his coming, the settlement was 
bounded by the Blue Mountains, which no one had 
succeeded in crossing. But a time of drought ensued 
and necessitated extreme measures. Macquarie in- 
sisted that a pass must be found through these moun- 
tains. In a few months the rivers Lachlan and 
Macquarie were traced to the west of the mountains, 
the fertile pastures around Bathurst reached, and a 
road made 130 miles long to connect that place with 
Sydney. 

The early destiny of the colony was thus decided, 
for it turned out that the downs of Australia were 
the finest sheep-walks in the world. 

The explanation can be read in the fact that the 
moisture brought by winds from the Pacific is not 
carried past the range of mountains which skirts the 
eastern coast, and the sheep-runs of Australia may be 
aptly compared with the lands east of the Pennines 
in England. 

Brisbane and DarHng are the names of the gover- 
nors who succeeded Macquarie, and the development 
of New South Wales, northwards and westwards, can 



122 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

be read in the positions of the town of Brisbane and 
the Darling River. 

In Darling's time a start was made with the estab- 
lishment of Western Australia as the colony of the 
Swan River. It was begun in conformity with the 
desire in Britain to make the occupation of the Island 
Continent as effective as possible. 

But the new colony in the west found the greatest 
difficulty in maintaining its existence in face of the 
fairer lands of the east, and it was only saved from 
extinction by diverting thither in 1850 the stream of 
convicts which the eastern colonies could then dispense 
with. 

New South Wales had already thrown off two off- 
shoots to the south. South Australia grew up around 
Adelaide, which was named in honour of the wife of 
William IV, and Australia Felix (now Victoria) grew 
up around Melbourne, which was named after the 
British Prime Minister at the beginning of Victoria's 
reign. 

As New South Wales extended northwards, it be- 
came necessary to divide it along its length, and 
Brisbane was taken for the capital of the new colony 
of Queensland. 

Thus all the colonies had their capitals fixed along 
the sea-coast, and two of them, Victoria and Queens- 
land, carry in their names indications of the time of 
their creation. 

The last colony to receive convicts was Tasmania, 
or as it was then called. Van Diemen's Land, and 
though justice demanded that Tasman rather than 
Van Diemen should have the credit for its discovery, 
the change was made to correct the misconception 
which prompted the corruption of the name of Van 
Diemen's Land into "Demon's" land. 

The squatters and settlers spread from Australia to 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 123 

New Zealand, and found that the South Island was 
even better than their old land for the rearing of sheep, 
so that soon the entire centre and east or this new 
settlement was divided into pasture lands. 

The way in which the New England Colonies in 
America had grown up suggested the expedient of 
making, in New Zealand, colonies composed of mem- 
bers of the same religious persuasion. 

Canterbury was made a settlement for Episcopalians, 
with its capital at Christchurch. Otago was a corres- 
ponding settlement for Scottish Presbyterians, with 
Dunedin as its capital. 

Thus British colonization, working from its home 
centre both eastwards and westwards, almost completed 
by these settlements in the southern seas the circle of 
the world, and it only remained to reach hands across 
the ocean from America on the one side and from 
Australasia on the other through the Pacific Islands 
to perfect the " webs of Empire ". 



AFRICA 

Africa was the last of the continents to be ex- 
plored and appropriated by Europeans. Up to recent 
years the lack of definite knowledge as to Africa's 
interior made it essentially the " Dark Continent ". 
Its tardy disclosure to outsiders was the direct result 
of its configuration. 

The lands along the shores of the Mediterranean, 
from the delta of the Nile to the extremities of the 
Atlas Mountains, afforded favourable settlements for 
mankind, but the region beyond this coastal strip 
formed the largest desert in the world, and was an 
impassable barrier. 

In the Sahara we can see the physical basis for the 



124 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

story of Atlas standing at the extremity of the world 
to support it. This was the thought that made navi- 
gators hesitate before they committed themselves to 
the seas beyond Atlas, and the large part which the 
idea occupied in their minds is shown in the name 
" Atlantic " for the ocean which reached up to its 
base. 

The Sahara is as effectual a barrier to communi- 
cation as the broad ocean, and divides tropical Africa 
from the nations of the Old World. But not only 
does it act as a barrier. It intensifies the heat of the 
broad belt which lies to the north of the Equator, the 
home of the negro, whose dark colour is the result 
of his environment, just as the light complexion of the 
Aryan speaks of his origin in the cooler regions of the 
globe. 

As we approach the south of the Continent of 
Africa, the elevation of the land increases, and the 
colour of the races changes, so that the Hottentots 
and Bushmen are yellow rather than black. Thus 
the light races in the north, the black type in the 
centre, and the people intermediate in colour between 
these in the south are indicative of the climatic zones. 

The desolation of the Sahara is caused by the 
absence of water. On occasions, rain seems to fall 
in every part, and in addition to the oases where the 
springs are found, there is an appreciable percentage 
of pasture land. This is to be found chiefly in the 
west, but wherever found, it provides a resting place 
for the nomadic tribes which have had a large share 
in the making of history. Poor, and restless because 
they are poor, they are ever on the lookout for 
plunder, and time and time again they have made 
descents upon the negro lands to the south, where 
the mixed race and the Sudan strip speak of their 
sundry incursions. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 125 

Approached by way of the sea, Africa's coast was 
as inhospitable as its great Sahara. It has no penin- 
sulas, no bays or fiords, and with the exception of 
Madagascar no islands. As surveyed by the Portu- 
guese, the continent to the south of the Atlas range 
consisted of some two or three hundred miles of coast 
plain, reeking with malaria, and this was succeeded by 
mountains which slowly rose to a tableland two to 
three thousand feet high. This, again, at a distance 
of some hundred of miles, formed the pedestal for the 
plateau of Central Africa, with a further rise of 2000 
feet. 

Nature has allocated to Africa's solid sides three 
mighty rivers, the Congo, the Nile, and the Zambesi, 
and it would appear that these might form excellent 
waterways. Their importance will doubtless increase 
with the years, but they will not allow of an entrance 
to ships from the coast into the interior, as their 
descent from the highlands to the sea is marked by 
a succession of falls and whirlpools. 

The build of the continent is noticeably lacking in 
well-marked barriers, which would assist the develop- 
ment of separate nationalities, hence the population 
uniformly coincides with the configuration. An ex- 
ception must be made for the basin of the Congo, 
which is the real heart of Africa. In its thickly- 
wooded lands, the remarkable dwarf races have most 
easily maintained themselves, and the true African 
tribes kept most free from external influences. 

When European "spheres of influence" were agreed 
upon, a state was carved out of the basin of the Congo, 
which was in complete conformity with the lines of 
its watershed. 

The valley of the Zambesi serves to mark the 
division between the well -watered regions of the 
tropics and the dry sheep - rearing regions of the 



126 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

south. The Drakenberg Mountains at the south-east 
corner in assisting the rainfall may be compared with 
the mountains along the eastern coast of Australia. 

The occupation of Cape Colony by the Dutch is 
written on the map in unmistakable terms. There 
are places which recall Holland, such as the Orange 
and Vaal rivers, Utrecht and Middleburg, and in a 
compound form Bredasdorp. 

The similarity in race between the English and the 
Dutch which has been a serious bar to their political 
fusion can be frequently read in the similarity of 
names. 

"Paarl" is so called because of the fancied resem- 
blance of a neighbouring granite rock to a " pearl ". 
Drakenberg is the " dragon "-berg ; Sneeuwbergen the 
" snowy mountains " ; Nieuveldt and Hoogveldt the 
" new " and the " high " " fields " respectively. 
" Vryburg " is the " free " burg, Weenan the place 
of "weeping", while the value which is attached to 
a water supply, is indicated by the various " fonteins " 
or "fountains". Thus there are Riet (reed)-fontein, 
Bloem (bloom)-fontein, and Spring-bok (buck)-fontein. 

On the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, many 
Huguenots left France, and as both Dutch and Hugue- 
nots were strict Calvinists, many of the latter found 
a refuge at the Cape. Thither they carried their 
knowledge of vine-cultivation, which has developed 
into a most successful industry. 



NATURE'S PROVISIONS 

The progress of the world can be read in the move- 
ment of men's activities in the animal, vegetable, 
and mineral kingdoms, and in the progress of their 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 127 

occupations from the pastoral and agricultural to the 
industrial. The earliest means of subsistence were 
provided through hunting and fishing, then the domes- 
tication of animals allowed of the accumulation of 
wealth and further consequent development. Fertile 
and well - watered lands also gave a most alluring 
inducement for agricultural operations. 

Each step in the advance of human civilization 
brought home the need for implements made of some 
strong material, and this the minerals alone could 
supply. It was in the search for minerals that the 
Phoenicians made many of their explorations. The 
working of iron by the Chalybes of Asia Minor is 
still preserved for us in the name of Chalybeate. 
Britain first came under their notice because of its 
suppHes of tin. 

The search for gold and silver has always been 
a fascination for mankind, and the Spaniards, in their 
greed for the precious metals, explored portions of 
America, and conquered Mexico and Peru. But even 
more pregnant in moulding man's destinies have been the 
modern uses of coal and iron. For industrial purposes 
these work in combination, and through the agency 
of steam have produced the greatest revolution the 
world has ever known. 

Forest and pastoral lands support few people in 
proportion to their area. Fertile and well-watered 
lands allow of a denser population. Coal and iron 
areas induce a congested assemblage. The very con- 
centration of mankind necessitates their dispersion, 
and side by side with the growth of large industrial 
districts spring up health resorts where tired workers 
can go for rest and change. 

In early days all labour devolved on animals and 
man. The " power " which could be utilized from 
natural sources was unknown. Afterwards, wind and 



128 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

water, and later, steam, became harnessed in man's 
service, but the inconstancy of wind and water made 
them much inferior to an agent which could be called 
upon as occasion required. 

The problem as to what man would do, when the 
minerals were exhausted, has been robbed of its ugliest 
features by the discovery of the way in which elec- 
tricity can be utilized for the production of power. 
As it can be transferred over large distances, with 
comparatively little trouble, and moreover can be 
generated from many natural sources of " water " 
power, it will doubtless play in the future an increas- 
ingly important part. 

Power, whether derived fromi steam or electricity, 
is used not only for industrial production, but also for 
locomotion, and in rendering possible modern com- 
mercial developments, the two uses go hand in hand. 

The congregation of people in large numbers in a 
given area requires special provision for the supply of 
necessaries. Food must be obtained elsewhere, and 
there must be a ready means of communication between 
producer and consumer. The different times of the 
year at which the harvests take place in Australia and 
North and South America, India and Russia, provide 
a uniform supply of wheat throughout the year. But 
even thus, the advantage could only have been seized 
with the present improved system of transport. 

Not only has there been an enormous development 
in the conveyance of material things, but through the 
telegraph and the telephone, through cheap paper and 
the press, space has been more completely annihilated, 
and the facilities for knowledge have been greatly 
multiplied. 

With the increase of knowledge there has been an 
increase in the power of mental analysis, but as civil- 
ization makes less demands for resourcefulness on the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 129 

average man, the creative faculty tends to decline, 
and in the poetical, pictorial, and plastic arts the 
skill of mankind is not commensurate with the ad- 
vance in other directions. 



THE PROGRESS OF MANKIND 
(SUMMARY) 

Language proclaims man the individual to be a 
social animal; the striving for intercourse and com- 
merce between the scattered inhabitants of the globe 
proclaims also that man, in the race, has social instincts. 

The traditions of earliest antiquity show that tra- 
vellers were held in high esteem, and among the glories 
of Greece, by no means the least significant were the 
honours which accrued from the establishment of their 
numerous colonies. 

Rome paved the way for even greater possibilities 
for intercourse by her enlarged basis of citizenship, 
and her demonstrations of the benefits of the fixed 
principles of law ; though it was the distinctive blessing 
of the Christian religion to enunciate unmistakably to 
mankind the unity of the human race. 

Intercourse between the members of the Old World 
was quickened when the enthusiasm of Mohammed 
caught fire in the deserts of Arabia, and sent his 
emissaries along the warmer zone from Mecca as 
the centre, to the Ganges on the east, and Mecca 
on the west. 

Still greater animation permeated the world when 
the struggle for the possession of the sepulchre of 
Christ stirred the lands from Spain to Scandinavia, 
and from Morocco to Hindustan. 

(0 845) 9 



I30 TPIE ASSOCIATION OF 

The mariner of Genoa unlocked the ocean's barriers 
and started the movement which brought together the 
ends of the earth, and while mankind accomphshed its 
mission of closer connection, the power of its intelli- 
gence increased. Generations are not like leaves, 
which renew themselves without amelioration and 
without change. Individuals may disappear like leaves, 
but the race is continuous, and the ages reciprocally 
dependent. 

In the lower orders of creation, instinct is always 
equal to itself; the beaver's hut and the bee's cell are 
constructed without any addition to thought or an 
increase to skill. But the succession of human beings 
over the rana;e of asons ouo^ht to be reg-arded as an 
individual of inexhaustible years and limitless capacity 
for knowledge. 

No epoch has a separate existence, no period can 
escape the influence of previous experiences. The 
past and the future are indissolubly linked together 
through the present, and because the ideas of advance 
and improvement are added to that of continuous 
being, the footsteps of Providence can be traced even 
in the sorrows of humanity. 

Nations have disappeared, institutions have crumbled 
and decayed, but these have been only the withering 
of the flowers' petals that the fruits may appear. 

With the increase of the sum total of knowledge 
has increased its range of diflfusion. The mind of 
man has enabled him to employ the powers of Nature 
as the mechanic uses his tools. Morality has been 
constantly at hand to modify the supremacy of brute 
force, and humanity, growing ever more and more 
conscious of its unity, declares itself to be the spirit 
of the world borne on the tide of thought and time 
from generation to generation. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 131 



LONDON (Its Site and Early History) 

Having traced man in his settlements over the globe, 
and examined at one time, the same race of men in 
different surroundings, and at another time, different 
races in the same natural environment, we are able 
in our ow^n city of London to gather up and focus, as 
it were, many of our previous phenomena, and read 
in miniature the problems which we have met scattered 
over the world. 

In its historic-geographical significance, the illus- 
trations derived from London are but typical of those 
offered by many of our largest towns. 

Long before the times referred to in written records, 
men would be drawn to the site on which London 
now stands. It was near a large river, a fact of great 
importance to men who were possessed of inferior 
weapons only,, and who could always find a surer meal 
from their fishing, than they could from their hunt- 
ing- 

But the need for food was hardly, in this climate, 
secondary to the requirements for shelter and clothing, 
and London could provide for all these needs. On the 
north was a forest which reached almost down to the 
river banks, and gave shelter to the beasts whose skins 
could be utilized for clothing. 

The solution of the housing problem was not so 
obvious. At first, primitive man would take the 
cover afforded by caves and holes in the earth, but 
a more satisfactory provision was found when plaited 
twigs were covered with the plastic clay which 
London furnished in great plenty. 

A further advantage in the site was found in its 
suitability for the growth of wheat, a characteristic 



132 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

which it has maintained to the present day, for on 
the London clay stands the " biscuit " town of Read- 
ing and the corn lands of East Anglia. 

Besides its provision for man's material needs, the 
site could be easily defended. Its elevation made it 
readily defensible on the land side, while the water 
of the river gave it the best of all defences on the 
remainder. 

Here then was the spot where men began to make 
their home. It was called by the Britons "Llyndun" 
that is the " fort on the lake ". To get the full mean- 
ing of what was passing through their minds, let us take 
our view to the Fen country, where there is another 
" Linn " named in later times " Lincoln ". The rivers 
of this country on their way to the sea spread out in 
endless marshes, in which the more elevated spots stood 
out like islands. 

In like manner, when the Thames rose from its 
low-water level of say twelve feet to its high-water 
mark of thirty feet, it covered all the low-lying land 
on the north and south banks, and then looked like 
a vast lake. The marshes were of the greatest extent 
on the Surrey side, and extended even up to the Surrey 
hills, and though they were of less extent on the 
northern bank, we still have a reminder of them 
in the name of " Fenchurch ". 

The second syllable in the word "London" may 
be associated with "dune" and "down", and refers 
to the high ground which we can locate under the 
names of Tower Hill, Cornhill, and Ludgate Hill. 
Immediately north of the " dun " was a stretch of 
waste or "moor" land which we can recognize in 
" Mooriields", and then followed the thick forest 
before mentioned, which was known in later times 
under the names of Middlesex, Hainault, and Epping 
Forest. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 133 

Though clay is the main subsoil of the site, there 
is also found mixed with it loam and sand. The 
former is associated for us in the name of Lambeth 
that is the "loamy" hithe or harbour. 

We have an interesting illustration of the effect 
of sand in the birth of the streams or "bournes", 
which rise in Highgate and Hampstead. The ram 
filters through the sand of these hills, till it reaches 
the clay subsoil, and then oozes out in a line of 
springs. These are combined to form the Hole- 
bourne (which we can recognize Jn the modern " Hol- 
born", while the hollow or depth of its channel can 
be read in the Viaduct, which has had to be con- 
structed for the exigencies of traffic), to form also 
the Ty-Bourne which gave its name to Tyburn, 
and farther to the west, to form the "West Bourne". 

As it neared the Thames, the Hole-bourne took 
the name of the Fleet, which we still retain in the 
name of Fleet Street. The channel or ditch of the 
Fleet is now arched over, and is used as a sewer. 
Long years ago, the inhabitants seemed to have dis- 
cerned its utility for the disposal of their refuse, like 
the moat of the city walls which gained the name 
of "Hounds-ditch". 

Pope in his Dunciad wrote : 

" This labour past, by Bridewell all descend, 
(As morning prayer and flagellation end) 
To where Fleet ditch, with disemboguing streams 
Rolls the large tribute of dead dogs to Thames. 
The King of dykes, than whom no sluice of mud 
With deeper sable, blots the silver flood." 

A small stream, which later was called by the sig- 
nificant name of "Wall-brook", entered the Thames 
to the east of the "dun", and completed London's 



134 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

defence of height, moor, forest, marsh, stream, and 
river. 

The selection of the site by their predecessors was 
confirmed by the Romans, who knew well how to 
choose strategic positions. Coming in ships over the 
water, the Romans soon got to value the commercial 
advantages of the port on the tidal highway. Ships 
could leave London and sail almost to Dover, without 
venturing on the open sea. Floating down the Thames 
on the ebb tide, they would enter the Wantsum at 
Reculvers, and, emerging at Sandwich, if not at Rich- 
borough, hug the shore, and thus by means of the 
Downs secure a smooth passage to the South Fore- 
land. 

Before the Romans left Britain, they had the satis- 
faction of seeing London develop into a great corn- 
exporting port. 

The military instincts of these world-wide con- 
querors are seen in the walls which they built around 
the London of that day, in the planning and con- 
struction of their great roads, and in their bridge 
which joined the north and south banks of the river. 
The "London Stone" which islet into St. Swithin's 
Church in Cannon Street, is believed to be the centre 
milestone from which the lengths along the roads 
were measured. 

The road from the Continent passing through Kent 
reached Deptford, and was known from that point 
onwards as the "Old Kent Road". Another road 
through Kent crossed the marshes on the south by 
a causeway, and was thus known as Newington 
Causeway. 

The road to Ipswich first crossed the marshes of 
the Lea at Old Ford, then it turned aside to Stratford, 
which tells by its name of the ford on the "paved" 
way. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 135 

It is probable that at first only two gates were 
made through the city walls, and that these were 
near the sites of the present Newgate and Rishops- 
gate. However that may be, the line of walls can 
still be roughly traced by taking in order, Aldgate, 
Houndsditch, Bishopsgate, London Wall, Barbican, 
Aldersgate, Newgate, and Ludgate, to Baynard's 
Castle, which stood not far from Blackfriars. 

One further tribute should be paid to the Romans. 
They started the first embankment along the bank 
now known as Blackfriars, only we must remember 
that the river has been deprived of some of its former 
bed. The "Strand", as its name shows, once ran 
along the shore or bank. 



SAXON LONDON 

The withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain, 
and the subsequent failure of the natives to make any 
effective struggle with the Picts, the Scots, and the 
Saxons, contains a most important moral for all 
teachers. 

A celebrated French schoolmaster was frequently 
in the habit of saying that his aim was to make 
himself useless to his pupils. And it is only so far 
as the teacher is able step by step to make his scholars 
capable of acting for themselves, that he is fulfilling 
his highest mission. 

In marked contrast with the instincts of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, who have aimed at giving, wherever 
possible, facilities for self-government, the Roman 
Empire failed, except on the side of its laws, to train 
people in the most effective means of State control. 

There was, however, much inherent strength in 



136 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the Roman organrzation, so that their system did not 
crumble at the first blow. We know that the Jutes 
seized the Kentish coast road to London, but their 
passage forward was hotly contested by the Britons 
on the banks of the Medway at Aylesford and on 
the banks of the Cray at Crayford. 

After their defeats, the Britons fled to take security 
within the walls of London. The Saxons who 
founded the kingdom of Essex were not able to 
attack the city directly, and had to work round after 
many years across the marshes of the Lea. 

The conquest of London was the result of suffoca- 
tion. Only after the Saxon conquests had extended 
all round the city, and cut off its supplies, did it 
fall into the hands of the newcomers. 

As the Anglo-Saxon political genius lay in the 
country rather than in the town, we may imagine that 
there was no great eagerness to possess London for 
itself. When it fell into their hands, the Saxons 
allowed the walls to decay, and the elements of 
civilized life to be obliterated. 

Each tribal community chose a centre for its capital, 
and when the West Saxons had obtained the supre- 
macy, Winchester took the honour which geograph- 
ically belongs to London. 

The temporary severance of Britain from the Con- 
tinent, which was occasioned by the retirement of the 
Romans, was removed by the mission of Augustine, 
and the subsequent union with the Roman Church. 
The material results of the mission were evidenced in 
London by the building of St. Paul's Cathedral, and 
after a few years by the rearing of the West Minster. 

In these two fabrics can be read the two main 
conceptions of church life. St. Paul's, built on the 
"dun", was in its position indicative of the alliance 
between Church and State. It was the "mother" 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 137 

church of the district. Its close connection with the 
city life was constantly brought to mind, when the 
"folk moots" were held in its churchyard, the earl- 
dormen elected, and proclamations of public importance 
made from the "Paul's" Cross. In later days a pulpit 
was erected, where addresses could be delivered to the 
citizens. 

Westminster, on the other hand, is a witness of the 
desire of men to retire from the world, and lead a 
contemplative life. It was therefore not placed like 
a "city on a hill, that cannot be hid", but fixed in 
the Island of Thorney which was at that time over- 
grown "with bushes and briars exceedingly". 

As the Bishop's seat had been dedicated to St. Paul, 
the new foundation in the west was dedicated to St. 
Peter. We may see in the establishment of m.onaster- 
ies a direct reaction against the insecurity of the times 
and against their strife and bloodshed. We see in it 
the desire for the peace which was to be found in 
the cloisters. 

In like manner, we may see a reflection of the daily 
life of the early Britons, who were unable to give 
expression to their reh'eious feelings in massive build- 
ings and decorative art, and so met for worship in the 
sacred grove, and in the obscurity of the impenetrable 
forest, and thus consecrated the fittest temple to the 
deity whom no enclosure could contain. 

Westminster, step by step, began to acquire an 
important position. The Island of Thorney was 
cleared of its brambles by the Benedictine monks 
and rendered green and fertile. Their lands began 
to grow also in extent, and these can be traced in the 
name of" Covent" Garden, that is the Convent Garden, 
and also in Hyde Park, the "hide" being the portion 
of land held by one tenant. 

A ferry was made across the Thames, leading to 



138 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Thorney Island, and this is still indicated in the name 
of " Horse-ferry Road". 

The wealth of London, and of Westminster in 
particular, tempted the cupidity of the Danes, who 
for some time hovered round their prey, and the way 
in which they seized the outposts of the city can be 
read in the local Danish names in " ness" and " wich". 
We have Greenwich and Woolwich, Sheerness and 
Shoeburyness. We may also note in passing that the 
jurisdiction of the "reeve" of London is contained for 
us in the limit of his powers at " Graves-end". 

The credit is due to King Alfred for restoring 
London once more to its rightful position as the 
"heart" of the land. He made it his strongest out- 
post, and when he had managed to hold his foes at 
bay, he encouraged the citizens to use brick and stone 
for their dwellings, instead of wood, so that the 
dangers from fire might be minimized. 

Space forbids us to do more than mention Canute's 
siege of London, and the way he avoided the swamps 
on the southern bank, by constructing a canal through 
them from Rotherhithe to Lambeth. 

We pass on to the work of Edward the Confessor 
in restoring the Abbey which had suffered grievously 
in the Danish invasions, and which had much to do in 
earning for him the title of "Confessor", that is one 
who witnesses to his religion in his daily life without 
surrendering it like a " martyr ". 



NORMAN LONDON 

The Norman Conquest began before the invasion 
of William the Conqueror. The last of the Saxon 
line, Edward, had a Norman mother, and he had spent 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 139 

a large part of his early life with her in Normandy 
during the reigns of the Danish kings. 

His religious mind, which afterwards gained for him 
the title of "Confessor", induced him when a young 
man to make a vow, that should he ever be restored to 
his rightful inheritance, he would go on a pilgrimage 
to Rome to do honour to St. Peter there. 

Years rolled by. He became king, but found that 
the exigencies of State would not allow of the literal 
performance of his vow, and it was suggested that he 
could do equal honour to St. Peter by the erection of 
a noble building in his name. The Abbey of St. Peter 
at Westminster was badly in need of restoration after 
the ravages of the Danes, what could be more fitting 
than that he should restore what was worthy of re- 
storation, and erect in addition a building in the 
" new style " which he had learned to love when in 
exile ! 

Normans were invited over to carry out his will, 
and when the wonderful edifice was finished the 
Witan was invited to be present at the consecration. 
Thus arose the first association between Westminster 
and the National Assembly which grew closer as the 
years went by. 

Close to the Abbey, Edward built for himself a palace. 
It has entirely disappeared, yet its site is marked by 
the name of " Old Palace Yard", which is now occu- 
pied by the Houses of Parliament. 

We pass on to the times of William the Con- 
queror, and notice, in his dealings with London, that, 
statesman as he was, he tried to get the weight of 
the city's influence on his side. He readily promised 
them security against any feudal claims that might 
arise, and promised them their old right of "trial by 
jury". 

Yet, at the same time, he determined that they 



140 



THE ASSOCIATION OF 



should not be placed in a privileged position whereby 
they might feel free to defy him. He therefore 
planned the Tower of London, which should comprise 
at one and the same time, a palace, a castle, and a 
prison. It was not finished at the time of the Con- 
queror's death. It was not even finished at the death 
of the Bishop of Rochester to whom the work had 
been entrusted. 

The fortress had three entrances only, the one 
leading to the city was especially safeguarded against 
any surprises, the one on the south-east opened out 
near the royal apartments, while the third opened 
out on to the riverside. In later times, when the 
Tower became used as the State Prison, prisoners were 
often conveyed to it by water, so that the gate which 
opened out on to the river was called the Traitors' 
Gate. 

The ordinary landing stages in Saxon times were 
indicated by the name of "hithe". Flowing with the 
stream, we should pass "Lambeth" (loam hithe) 
Rotherhithe (red hithe). Stepney (Steben-hithe) Erith, 
and Green hithe. 

The citadel or "keep" of the Tower is called the 
White Tower. Its walls are 11 feet thick, with a 
winding staircase. There are vaults underneath and 
a reservoir at the top for supplying the garrison with 
water. 

The Tower of London was a magnified copy of the 
castles of the feudal lords which were dotted up and 
down the land. Besides these castles, these lords in 
time began to build "town" houses, which were often 
of considerable size, for the masters were always 
accompanied by crowds of retainers. 

One of the largest town houses was known as 
Baynard's Castle in Castle Street. It took its name 
from its first owner, but afterwards belonged to the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 141 

Fitzwalters, one of whom led the barons in the 
struggle which wrung Magna Charta from King John. 
Later it was rebuilt in the zenith of the nobles' power 
by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and was ultimately 
destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. Its importance 
can be gauged from the fact that it gave its name to 
the ward in which it stood, and this was retained 
even when the castle disappeared. 

Another noted mansion was Savoy Palace, ap- 
proached by Savoy Street in the Strand. This takes us 
back to the time when, in the reign of Henry III, the 
land was overrun by foreigners, the relatives and 
countrymen of the Queen, for Savoy Palace was 
built by the uncle of Eleanor the wife of Henry III. 

One of the most prominent families of English 
history is the Howard family which intermarried with 
the families of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl ot 
Arundel. One of the descendants of this house was 
created Earl of Surrey by Richard III, so that the 
names of Surrey, Arundel, Howard, and Norfolk are 
the family names of the house, and have been given 
to the streets which are said to cover the old 
"Arundel House". 

The great border lords, the "Percies", Earls of 
Northumberland, once had their town house near 
Fenchurch Street, where the spot still bears the name 
of Northumberland Alley. In later times, when the 
protection of the city walls was not necessary, the 
Percies built a large house at the western extremity 
of the Strand, and that spot is now marked by the 
name of Northumberland Avenue. 

The Bishops who had great temporal as well as 
spiritual powers did not fear for their safety and 
security in the same way as the lords, and even before 
the Tudor times lived without the city. Ely Place, 
Holborn, reminds us of the residence of the Bishop of 



142 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Ely, and other spots were named after the Bishops of 
Bangor, Chichester, and Durham. 

Proceeding to later times, one of the most famous of 
noblemen's houses was that built by Protector Somer- 
set, whose magnificent mansion fell to the Crown 
after his execution. One of the grounds of dis- 
satisfaction set out against Somerset was his ambition 
and seeking of his own glory, as "appeared by his 
building of most sumptuous and costly buildings, and 
specially in the time of the king's wars, and the 
king's soldiers unpaid". 

Another magnificent mansion v/hich was never 
jccupied by the person for whom it was built was 
Whitehall, built by Wolsey, but handed over to his 
royal master, Henry VIII. 



CRUSADES AND PILGRIMAGES 

The ideas of feudalism which William the Con- 
queror systematized in England were by no means 
new in their general conception. Since the time 
of Alfred the Great, there had been in the air the 
spirit of chivalry, which afterwards took shape in 
the vow, to " speak the truth, to succour the help- 
less and oppressed, and never to turn back from an 
enemy". The institution itself was in its infancy 
in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but it was quick- 
ened into full development at the time of the First 
Crusade. 

In all ages the Holy Land has been held' in the 
highest veneration by Christians, and in early times 
pilgrims were willing to undertake long and toilsome 
journeys thither in the belief that this service was 
acceptable in Heaven. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



H3 



The increase in the power of the Ottoman Turks 
hindered the ready access to Jerusalem, and Peter the 
Hermit fulfilled his wildest dreams by inciting Christen- 
dom to enter on a crusade, and avenge the wrongs 
and indignities under which the Christians were 
suffering. 

To this first Crusade two powerful orders of knight- 
hood owed their origin. Near the Holy Sepulchre 
a hospital had been built and dedicated to St. John, 
and during the siege of Jerusalem many of the sick 
and wounded Crusaders were carried there and tended. 
In gratitude for the benefits received there, they 
determined to found a brotherhood whose members 
should devote their lives to charitable acts, and be 
known as the " Poor Brothers of the Hospital of 
St. John". They adopted for their dress a black 
robe with a white cross formed by eight points. 

These Knights of St. John were for seven centuries 
the "sword and buckler of Christendom" against the 
Saracens, and they concern us here because of the 
magnificent monastery they erected in Clerkenwell, of 
which St. John's Gate is the present sole remaining 
evidence, and from their organization, St. John's 
Ambulance Association takes its name. 

The second order was avowedly a military one. 
It was the Order of the Templars or Red Cross 
Knights. The members bound themselves to purity 
of life, to mutual assistance, and to constant warfare 
against the infidel, never to turn back from less than 
four adversaries. They wore a white robe to which 
was attached a red cross. 

The Templars, on their return from the First and 
Second Crusades, built four circular churches in Eng- 
land, of which the "Temple Church" in London 
is one. Just at the entrance to the city, they also 
built "The Temple", the establishment which re- 



144 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

mained in their hands till the suppression of their 
Order, when it was leased to the students of common 
law. Spenser alludes to this change of ownership 
in the words: 

" those bricky towers 
The which on Thames' broad aged back doe ride 
Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers 
There whilom wont the Templar Knights to bide 
Till they decayed through pride ". 

Though the excitement for the Crusades was spas- 
modic, according as it was fanned into flame by special 
circumstances, yet there was always a constant stream 
of pilgrims to shrines in England. The most noted 
of these shrines was that of Thomas a Becket at 
Canterbury, and to this day the road in West Kent 
which these wayfarers traversed is known as the 
"Pilgrims' Road". 

Chaucer gives us a vigorous description of a company 
of pilgrims who were assembled at the Tabard Inn 
in Southwark in preparation for the pilgrimage to 
Canterbury. The original house at Southwark has 
been burnt down, and the present building is called 
the "Talbot Inn". 

■•' Befell that in that season on a day 
In Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay 
Readie to wenden on my pilgrimage 
To Canterburie, with devoute courage 
At night was come into that hosterie 
Well nine-and-twentie in a companie 
Of sundrie folke, by adventure yfall 
In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all 
That towards Canterburie woulden ride 
The chambers and the stables weren wide 
And well we weren eased at the best." 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 145 

The facilities for pilgrimages were in those days 
always at hand. No money was wanted for the 
journey, for each day the pilgrims would find 
monasteries where food and lodgings were provided. 

The craze grew to be such a nuisance, that at 
last it was decreed that no one should go on a pil- 
grimage unless he had his Bishop's licence. 



MONKS AND FRIARS 

As we have seen, the Abbey of Westminster be- 
longed to the Benedictines, but by the beginning of 
the twelfth century the Benedictine rule had fallen 
into decay. A new order of monks called the Cister- 
cians came to settle in England, who usually chose 
for their settlements wild spots where they could 
devote themselves to the pursuit of agriculture and 
sheep-farming. 

The next century witnessed the coming of the 
great Mendicant Orders, the Franciscans and the 
Dominicans. The monks had remained in seclusion, 
separated from the world. The newcomers, who were 
called friars, went about among the people. The 
older orders had fixed their homes in the country, 
the newcomers chose the towns, and especially the 
meanest and poorest quarters therein. 

In London, the Dominicans, or " Black Friars", made 
their settlement in the district between Ludgate Hill 
and the Thames. They were greatly assisted in 
the building of their mansion and monastery by Edward 
I and his good Queen Eleanor. 

It was in their quarters that Henry VIITs divorce 
from Katherine of Aragon was decided. It was here 
that the Parliament met which condemned Wolsey. 

(0 345) 10 



146 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The Franciscans or Grey Friars settled on the 
north side of what is now called Newgate Street. 
Aided by the citizens, they built a church, and a 
house, " Grey Friars House," which at the dissolution 
of the monasteries became changed into Christ's 
Hospital, whose object was to rescue young children 
from the streets, to shelter, feed, clothe, and lastly 
to educate them. 

The streets, lanes, and alleys bounded by Whitefriars 
Street and the Temple, by Fleet Street and the 
Thames, was the site of the convent of the Carmelites 
or Whitefriars who came to England in the reign 
of Edward I. The rights of sanctuary were given 
to it, but in later days these were abused to such 
an extent, that it became the refuge for debtors, and 
the haunts of the most profligate persons in London. 
Sir Walter Scott in his "Fortunes of Nigel" gives a 
lifelike description of the place in the reign of James I. 

The rights of sanctuary were also enjoyed by the 
great Abbey of Westminster, and we have the " Broad 
Sanctuary " to remind us of the fact. 

More interesting still perhaps was the sanctuary 
privileges of the Dominicans at " Blackfriars", which 
Richard Burbage, Shakespeare, and their fellows took 
advantage of in order to build their "Playhouse", for 
they had been ejected from the city and their project 
was strenuously opposed by the City Fathers and the 
Puritans. Shakespeare's town property abutted upon 
a street leading down to Puddle Wharfe (Blackfriars). 

A most important monastic foundation was that 
established in the reign of Edward III by the Carthu- 
sian monks whose name of Chartreuse was converted 
by English tongues into Charterhouse. The monas- 
tery was built not far from Smithfield, which was once 
the town green of the city, for Charterhouse was set 
down outside the city walls. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



'47 



At the dissolution of the monasteries, the last prior 
was executed at Tyburn ; and to make the dissolution 
complete, his head was set on London Bridge, and one 
of his limbs fixed over the gateway of his own convent, 
the same gateway, it is said, which is still the entrance 
from Charterhouse Square. 

After the property had passed from one set of hands 
to another it fell at last into the hands of Thomas 
Sutton, who, having discovered rich veins of coal near 
Newcastle-on-Tyne, was enabled by his wealth to 
purchase Charterhouse, and endow it " for poor 
brethren and scholars". 

We have noted that the monasteries did not seek 
the protection of the city walls. By their outside 
position they were not restricted for room, for at this 
time fields and meadows lay around. 

Dick Whittington, as he sat in despair on the slopes 
of Highgate, could hear the bells of St. Mary le Bow 
wafted across the four miles of fields. 

Charing was a village between the cities of London 
and Westminster, and its church was St. Martin's-in- 
the-fields. 

The expeditions and picnics of these early days can 
be read in the names. Primrose Hill, Bloomsbury, and 
Notting (that is "nutting" hill). 

St. John's Wood tells of a time when the district 
was covered with trees. Windmill Street, Finsbury, 
tells of the use made of the old "moor", while the 
adjacent "artillery" ground takes us back to a time 
when "archery" was the primitive artillery. 

We can read similar lessons in Spitalfields, that is 
the fields of the hospital, Bethnal Green, St. Giles-in- 
the-fields, and Lincoln Inn Fields which all are sug- 
2:estive of verdure-clad walks and meadows. 



[48 THE ASSOCIATION OF 



SUPPLIES 

The supply of a large number of people with food, 
water, and clothing, whether it be for soldiers in an 
army or for citizens in a great town, is always a task 
of considerable magnitude. Even in our days of im- 
proved locomotion and increased engineering facilities, 
the problem is still a complex one. 

We can obtain indications of what it was to the 
early Londoners. Take first the supply of water. 
This would be obtained from wells. The Fleet 
river was called the "river of wells", because the track 
immediately to the east of it was rich in springs, many 
of which were medicinal, as was indicated by the use 
of the word "spa". Thus there were the Spa-fields, 
Islington Spa, and the London Spa. In addition there 
were Bagnigge Wells, Sadler's Wells, Clerkenwell, and 
Coldbath. 

The names of Holywell, Bridewell, and St. Clement's 
Well speak also of religious associations around wells. 

The difficulty of obtaining water, as the number of 
citizens increased, led to the bringing of water in the 
reign of Henry III from the Tyburn by means of lead 
pipes, and storing it in " conduits" or cisterns. 

In later days, Hugh Myddelton utilized the New 
River which is fed by the River Lea and the wells 
sunk in the chalk, and this water supply is brought 
in at the New River Head in the neighbourhood 
of Clerkenwell, where also are found, in memory of 
the scheme of the author, Myddelton Square and 
Myddelton Street. 

We have already noticed how the supplies of fish 
attracted men to the banks of rivers, and right on the 
banks of the Thames, near London Bridge, was the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



49 



great fish-market of Billingsgate, which right back in 
the times of Athelstan was the appointed place for 
fishing boats to pay their tolls. Near by was the 
landing-stage called Edred's hithe, which King John 
granted with its dues to his mother Eleanor. This 
therefore obtained the name of Queenhithe, and gained 
thereby a certain amount of dignity, but the fishers 
still preferred to land their wares at Billingsgate. 

Queenhithe, however, secured the chief trade in 
corn, and was sometimes known as Cornhithe. In 
reference to its corn trade, the neighbouring church 
of St. Michael's has a gilt vane in the form of a ship 
in full sail, whose hull will contain just a bushel of 
grain. 

" Cornhill " obtained its name from its early corn 
market, which was afterwards located between Fen- 
church Street and Great Tower Street. This will 
account for the name Mark Lane, which is short for 
Market Lane. Leadenhall Street, which is a con- 
tinuation of Cornhill, obtained its name from the 
erection there of a pubHc granary in 141 9. 

The sale of hay and straw was carried on at " Hay- 
market ". 

A great cattle market was from times immemorial 
held at West Smithfield, and though the description 
would have to be changed quantitatively, though not 
qualitatively, for the Middle Ages, we get a good 
picture of the market from Charles Dickens' pen in 
Oliver Twist. 

Near to Smithfield, as was most convenient, were 
the shambles of Newgate, where in the early days of 
St. Batholomew's Hospital, the Master or Hospitaller 
used to go morning by morning to beg meat for his 
establishment. In later days this was unnecessary, as 
the foundation shared in many benefactions, notably 
that of the great Londoner, Richard Whittington. 



I50 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The most striking source of revenue, however, for 
St. Batholomew, vi^as that derived from the great fair, 
for which the position of the Priory and Hospital on 
the Smith or " smooth " field afforded extended facili- 
ties. These " fairs " were a sort of magnified market 
usually held once a year. The word " fair " is derived 
from " ferias " (church festival), and the holiday of 
the fair not only synchronized with the period of a 
saint's festival, but the booths and shows were usually 
placed in the precincts of the church or abbey, and 
the revenues became the perquisites of the abbot, 
bishop, or other ecclesiastical dignitary. 

At Bartholomew-tide, a great fair was held at Smith- 
field, in two sections. One was contained within the 
Priory precincts, and was one of the great cloth fairs 
for the whole land. The site of this is still known 
as the " Cloth Fair ". The other section was held 
in the field, and was granted by the Prior to the 
city of London for the sale of cattle and goods. 

At the dissolution of the monasteries, the privilege 
of holding the "fair" went with the other rights of 
the Priory to the Solicitor-General of Henry VIII. 
Ben Jonson in his play Bm'tholomew Fair tells of the 
later developments of the puppet shows of Jerusalem, 
Nineveh, and Norwich, and the Gunpowder Plot, 
presented to an eighteen- or twenty-pence audience 
nine times in an afternoon. 

The two other fairs of early London belonged also 
to religious houses, viz. to Westminster Abbey and 
Southwark Priory, or, as it is usually called, St. Mary 
Overie. 

There are many analogous features in the reigns 
of Edward the Confessor and Henry III. Both kings 
were alike in their appreciation of foreigners and of 
foreign architecture. Both had much to do with the 
building of Westminster Abbey, for the Abbey as we 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 151 

have it to-day is largely the work of Henry III sup- 
plemented in later times by Henry VII. 

Henry III in his visits to his brother-in-law St. 
Louis, King of France, had no doubt seen the beauti- 
ful examples of Gothic architecture in Amiens, Reims, 
and Chartres which were in building there, but we 
are not so much concerned at this moment with his 
building, as with one of the methods he adopted for 
the raising of the necessary money. He granted the 
privilege of a fair to the Abbot of Westminster, and 
so that the entire trade of the city must be drawn to 
the spot, he enacted that all the ordinary shops should 
be closed. It is of interest also to note that the stone 
used in Henry's Ill's restoration of the Abbey was 
obtained from a place in Surrey, which thenceforth 
got the name of " God-stone ". 

The third of the three early fairs belonged to St. 
Mary Overie, which is said to mean St. Mary over 
the Ferry, from the ferry over the Thames whose 
dues were paid to the prior of the foundation. After 
the dissolution of the monasteries, the "fair" was made 
over to the Corporation of London, and the " fun of 
the fair " is recorded for us in one of Hogarth's plates. 

The value of Southwark as an outpost for London 
is indicated in its name. It was granted to the citizens 
by Edward III, but its geographical detachment is 
shown in the appellation applied to it of the Borough, 
whence also the " Borough Road ". 



TRADE AND TRADERS (Part I) 

Since the earliest times people have been attracted 
to London for purposes of trade. The city had 
exceptional advantages as a great distributing centre, 



152 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

and it is specially interesting, in view of the specialized 
branches of modern industrial life, to notice how the 
different trades tended to gather in separate localities. 

Whatever inducements there may have been for 
others to take up their stations outside the city walls, 
there was certainly none for the traders, whether their 
dealings were wholesale or retail in character. 

Just as the religious, and in some senses the political 
life of the citizens was centred at St. Paul's and its 
churchyard, so the traders made their hub at the 
Chepe, or Cheapside. 

The corporate life grew up around the " guilds " or 
companies of traders, and probably the association of 
corporate life in its religious observances can be read 
in the names which arose from the great processions 
on Corpus Christi Day. 

The members of the processions mustered at the 
upper end of Cheapside and there commenced the 
" Paternoster " which they continued through the 
length of the street still called " Paternoster " Row. 
The Amen was pronounced as the processions turned 
at Amen Corner, and the Ave Maria commenced as 
they entered Ave Maria Lane. After crossing Lud- 
gate, the Creed was chanted in " Creed " Lane. 

The situation of the first " Guildhall " is indicated 
for us in the name of Alderman-" bury ", that is the 
Alderman's Court, but we can perhaps obtain the best 
view of early London if we look at the various City 
Guilds. These were incorporated in the interests of 
the different trades, which considered that it was 
of the first importance that a thorough knowledge of 
the craft should be gained through apprenticeship. 

With the boisterousness of youth, the City Appren- 
tices were frequently responsible for much of the 
mischief that was wrought. Chaucer thus describes 
the " idle " apprentice : 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 153 

" When there any ridings were in Chepe, 
Out of the shoppe thider would he leap 
And till that he had all the sight ysein 
And danced wel, he would not came again ". 

The names of the City Companies, and the names 
of the streets in the neighbourhood of Cheapside, have 
suggestive stories to tell of the details of mediaeval life. 

The " Poultry" was once called "Coning-sh op-lane" 
because of the sign of three conies (rabbits) w^hich 
was hung at a shop at the lane end. The association 
of the Dry Salters and the Fishmongers tell of the 
provision that had to be made for religious " fast " 
days, while the existence of "Friday" Street probably 
tells the same tale. 

The workers in precious metals can be located 
near Goldsmith's Hall and in Silver Street. They 
were divided into two well-marked sections, the shop- 
keepers or sellers of plate and the shere-moniers who 
cut out the plates to be stamped. The rendezvous of 
the latter can be placed in "Sermon" Lane, while the 
process of stamping is still retained in the " Hall " mark. 

We are reminded of the cobblers, famed in story, 
who wanted to provide "leather" for the protection 
of their city walls, when we read of the Carpenters 
sending a remonstrance to the Court of Aldermen 
concerning the Bricklayers, reasoning that "tymber 
buildings were more commodious for this citie, than 
brick buildings were". They showed, however, 
better judgment in the choice of the subjects for the 
decoration of their great hall, which included the con- 
struction of the Ark by Noah and his sons, the repair 
of the Temple in Josiah's reign, and Christ teaching 
in the Synagogue with the wonderment of the Jews, 
expressed in the words, "Is not this the carpenter's 
son?" 



154 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Not only do we find an association of cobblers, but 
others also of cordwainers and patten makers who gave 
their names to Cordwayner Street and Pattens' Lane 
respectively. 

The contest for precedence between the " Skinners" 
and the Merchant Tailors may have in it the elements 
of trade jealousy. The use of furs by male persons 
gradually ceased, except in the case of peers and 
magistrates for their state robes, and ermine for kings. 

The grocers were first known as the "Pepperers", 
a fact that recalls the value which the '''spices" of 
the east had acquired. 

The fact that the Barbers are described as " Barber- 
Surgeons" reminds us of the times when "bleeding" 
was a common remedy, a fact still recorded on barbers' 
poles. 

The Mercers' Company gave birth to the Haber- 
dashers, who are called also "Milliners" from their 
dealings in Milan goods. The makers of bows and 
arrows were known as "bowyers" and "fletchers", 
and settled in Bowyer's Row near Ludgate. 

The Hosiers gave their name to Hosier Tane near 
Smithfield. The chandlers or makers of candles, 
whether of wax or tallow, gave their name to Candle- 
wick Street. 

The Ironmongers after giving their name to Iron- 
mongers Lane, Cheapside, removed to Thames Street, 
for the great weight of iron made its carriage difficult, 
and enforced proximity to their wharves as an im- 
portant consideration. One would naturally expect 
the "Vintry" to be also near the Thames so as to 
facilitate the landing of "French" wines, and the 
Fishmongers found it very convenient to take up 
their quarters in Thames Street. 

The Printers, Stationers, and Booksellers flocked to 
Fleet Street, which still retains its old associations 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 155 

through the "Press". At the time of the Great 
Fire in 1666, the booksellers found the Crypt of 
St. Paul's highly convenient for the storage of their 
combustible wares, but a premature anxiety to ascertain 
their safety caused the destruction of the whole : 

' Heavens, what a pile, whole ages perished there 
And one bright blaze turned learning into air". 

To have opportunities for financing the traders and 
merchants, the Jews would naturally congregate in 
the neighbourhood of Cheapside, and their quarters 
are readily found in "Old Jewry". 



TRADE AND TRADERS (Part II) 

England's insularity has always made her people 
intolerant of foreigners, and the Londoners must have 
cast many a look of hatred at the palace which Peter 
of Savoy had erected near the Strand in the reign 
of Henry III. 

National pride, however, had its day when Savoy 
became the palace of captivity of John, King of 
France, after he was taken prisoner by the Black 
Prince at the Battle of Poictiers, and the position 
was all the more remarkable because, just before this, 
the King of Scotland had also been taken prisoner 
at Neville's Cross, and perhaps as it was necessary 
to keep him under closer surveillance, he was lodged 
in the Tower. 

These events came to pass in the reign of Edward 
III, but previously, in the time of Edward I, the 
"guilds" of London had organized a notable triumph 
to welcome the King when he came back victorious 
over the Scots. Had he not already defeated the 



156 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Welsh Prince Llewellyn, and brought the crown of 
the vanquished Prince to their own Abbey of West- 
minster? Did he not bring the "famous and fatal 
stone " which was to confer unique distinction on 
their city? 

Yet even in their enthusiasm for the national hon- 
our, and their unbounded admiration for the King, 
there was something that was nearer and dearer to 
their hearts, and that was the security for their rights 
and privileges. In these times, the most important 
branch of the English trade was the exportation of wool 
to Flanders, and when Edward, hard pressed to obtain 
money for his wars, seized all the wool in order to 
obtain a heavy duty on its return to the rightful owners, 
the merchants raised an indignant outcry, and insisted 
on a pledge from Edward that in future he would 
refrain from all such arbitrary acts. 

It is probable that some of the wool for export 
was weighed on a beam that had been erected in 
the churchyard of St. Mary's, Woolnoth, which thus 
obtained its name. 

Edward I's motto of "Keep troth" was evidently 
viewed from different standpoints by the King and 
by the merchants, for it is somewhat curious to notice 
that the Weavers' Company had a motto similar to 
that of the King, but which had in addition an etymo- 
logical beauty of its own "Weave truth with trust". 

In the reign of Edward III, weavers were invited 
over from Flanders to show the English how to 
weave their own cloth. Wool became known as 
the English " staple " or store, and the inn in Holborn 
where the wool merchants were accustomed to assemble 
was known as the "Staple Inn". 

The duty on wool became the most important 
branch of the King's income, and up to this day, 
the Lord Chancellor takes his seat on a wool sack. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 



157 



Among foreign merchants resident in London was 
a powerful combination known as the Hanse League, 
that imported into England the products of Northern 
Europe, wheat, rye, ropes, masts, pitch, tar, flax, hemp, 
and steel. 

The quarters of the Hanse merchants were called 
the "Steelyard", and the merchants themselves were 
often known as the Easterlings, a word which we have 
retained in a shortened form as "sterling". 

The trade with the North of Europe was therefore 
entirely in the hands of foreigners. Yet there was 
in other directions much scope for English merchants, 
and one of the most noted of these was Dick Whitting- 
ton, four times Mayor of London. He belonged to 
the Mercers' and the Merchant Adventurers' Com- 
panies, and from his master's shop or stall in Chepe 
he must have been very familiar with the bells of the 
neighbouring church of St. Mary le Bow. These 
rang for the closing of the shops, and the delay on 
some occasions caused the apprentices and others in 
Chepe to make the rhyme : 

" Clarke of the Bov^ Bell, with the yellow lockes. 
For thy late ringing, thy head shall have knockes". 



THE RUIN OF THE FEUDAL LORDS 
AND OF THE MONASTERIES 

We turn from the commercial interests to che 
landed, and note their antagonism. The success of 
the trader postulated security, the opportunity of the 
feudal lords lay in strife. The selfishness of the 
baronage reached its climax in the Wars of the 



158 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Roses, a struggle in which the Londoners took but 
an insignificant part. 

Yet the strife lay around them on every side. The 
Tower, in those days, saw some of its most heartrend- 
ing scenes — the murder of the young Princes, the 
removal of the Duke of Clarence, "false, perjured, 
fleeting Clarence ", the beheading of Hastings by 
order of the Protector Gloucester, and so on. 

It witnessed the imprisonment of Henry VI and 
his release to become a puppet king with Warwick 
pulling the strings, the same Warwick whose family 
name has come down to us in " Warwick Lane ", 
whose following in London comprised 500 men, and 
whose breakfast needs included six oxen. 

The greed of the landowners had already been evi- 
denced in the years following the Black Death, when 
the unrest of the villeins culminated in the protest of 
Wat Tyler. The cause was good, even though the 
exposition was bad, and we note in passing that the 
family name of Sir William Walworth, the Lord 
Mayor who slew Tyler, is preserved for us in the 
district of Walworth. 

The general falsehood and perjury of the times is 
shown for us in the need for the Queen of Edward IV 
to take shelter in the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey, 
where she gave birth to the unfortunate Edward V. 

The shelter of the Abbey was sought about the 
same time for quite a different purpose, but for one 
which was silently to help to provide for one of the 
objects which the Abbeys were serving. The monks 
had hitherto been the chief means of spreading learn- 
ing, and the copying of manuscripts was done in 
monastic foundations. Now printing has been dis- 
covered, which was to place learning within the reach 
of all, and Caxton set up in the Abbey the first print- 
ing press that had yet been seen in England. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 159 

The day for the destruction of the monasteries was 
not yet. The power of the baronage had been de- 
stroyed in the Wars of the Roses, and it almost looked 
as though the ecclesiastics would fill, to some extent, 
the place formerly occupied by the barons. The 
power that could be wielded at this time by a church- 
man, is well illustrated in Wolsey's career. We will 
confine ourselves to a notice of the building of his two 
magnificent palaces, Hampton Court, and York Place 
(afterwards Whitehall). 

The splendour of Hampton Court can be well illus- 
trated in its gardens, which were planned by Wolsey 
to be worthy of his princely house. " They were to 
suit all the various weathers of our varying climate — 
an open garden for the more temperate seasons of the 
year, and for the mornings and evenings of warm 
summer days; shady alleys, arbours, and banqueting 
houses for the great heat ; dry walls and walled par- 
terres for wet weather. The various kinds of flowers, 
too, were so placed that the garden might never be 
bare, so that you may have the Golden Age again, 
and a spring. all the year long." 

York Place, the town residence of the Archbishops 
of York, was, like Lambeth, the town residence of the 
Archbishops of Canterbury, planted near Westminster 
Palace, the king's chief residence. Wolsey replaced 
the old Archbishop's palace of York Place by a most 
magnificent structure, but he overshot the mark, for 
his new palace was considered better than the King's 
palace of Westminster, and when Wolsey fell, the 
Palace of York Place was appropriated by the Crown, 
and called Whitehall. The old royal palace of West- 
minster was then given up to other uses, one of its 
rooms being occupied by the famous " Star Chamber 
Court". 

Two features of the London of that day troubled 



i6o THE ASSOCIATION OF 

the Crown. One was the rapid way in which the 
city, like a great octopus, tended to break all its bounds, 
and spread into the surrounding fields. This it con- 
tinued to do, in spite of all the royal regulations to the 
contrary. The other unwelcome feature was the in- 
creasing consumption of coal, which also continued, in 
spite of the efforts to curtail it, for the volume of smoke 
which it produced was considered a public nuisance. 
In the fact, however, we may infer that the ancient 
forests had by this time been used up for fuel. 

Wolsey's fall was typical of the blow which later 
was dealt to the church as a whole, for its temporal 
wealth was taken away at the dissolution of the monas- 
teries, and in London we have instances of the manner 
in which their riches were diverted. 

Some properties, like those of Blackfriars and St. 
John's, Clerkenwell, were sold to nobles, the walls of 
St. John's providing the Lord Protector of Edward 
VI with materials for the building of Somerset Place. 

Some properties like Hyde Park, which was part of 
the Westminster Abbey estate, were retained by the 
Crown. The Minories, belonging to the nuns of 
St. Clare, were made the storehouses for " armour and 
habiliments of war ". 

Some properties retained their old intentions. St. 
Bartholomew's was continued as a hospital, being re- 
endowed partly by Henry VIII and partly by the city 
itself. Bethlehem or Bedlam, the hospital for lunatics, 
was given by Henry to the city, though not before he 
had tried to sell it to them. 

Paddington, which was part of the Westminster 
estate, was transferred to the endowments of the 
bishopric of London, and from the design of apply- 
ing the endowments of the other Abbey property to 
the repairs of St. Paul's arose the phrase " Robbing 
Peter to pay Paul". 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY i6i 

Westminster School was founded also out of the 
Abbey establishment, but before this time St. Paul's 
School had been founded by a member of the Mercers' 
Company out of his own estate. We have already 
referred to the foundation of Charterhouse and Christ's 
Hospital as schools about the time of the Dissolution. 

As the monasteries had been the chief agencies for 
the distribution of relief to paupers, their annihilation 
effected a considerable dislocation of the social system. 
The number of vagrants and sturdy beggars increased 
rapidly, and taxed the resources of the government of 
the day. Repression found favour on many sides. 
There was a royal palace at Bridewell, which, like 
many of the other wells, was placed near the Fleet, 
and at the instance of Ridley, Bishop of London, 
Edward VI presented the palace to the city " as a 
workhouse for the poor, and a house of correction, 
the fittest hospital for those cripples whose legs are 
lame through their own laziness ". 



ELIZABETH'S SPACIOUS TIMES 

The days of the Tudors saw a remarkable shifting 
of the centre of the world's commercial life. Up to 
that time the countries of the Mediterranean had held 
the focus of trade. The discovery of America brought 
at one bound the countries of western Europe into that 
privileged position, and the Tudor sovereigns, with 
characteristic foresight, seized the opportunity of secur- 
ing for England the advantages that were offered. 

The first business was the creation of a fleet, and 
this was begun by Henry VII, whose great ship of 
the day was named after him, Harry Grace de Dieu. 
Its commander, with wisdom equal to that of his 

(C345) 11 



1 62 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

royal master, founded a guild of English mariners 
which was empowered for the first time to build 
lighthouses and beacons around the English shores. 
Thus grew up the corporation of Trinity House, 
whose powers have continued up to the present day. 

But the city of London owes its deepest debt of grati- 
tude to Sir Thomas Gresham, who was for many years 
the royal agent at the great Continental port of Ant- 
werp, where he had been sent by Elizabeth in order to 
negotiate with the Low Countries loans, and to pur- 
chase armour and provisions. 

Gresham noted with observant eye the daily assem- 
bly of 5000 merchants in the Antwerp Bourse, and 
determined to present a similar institution to the 
merchants of his own city, so that they might no 
longer have to meet in the open air at Lombard 
Street. The Queen opened this magnificent gift 
building in great state, and decided that it should be 
called, not the Bourse, but the Royal Exchange. 

This was the beginning of a new era. The mer- 
chants began to co-operate more readily with each 
other, and a national sentiment arose which made the 
banking operations of foreigners unnecessary. For the 
very name of Lombard Street calls to mind that the 
first banking houses were founded on our shores by 
Italians. Our dependence on foreigners for the ele- 
ments of trade up to this time is shown also in the 
building of Gresham's Bourse. It was foreign in its 
conception, it was built with Flemish materials, by 
Flemish workmen, and under the superintendence of 
a Flemish architect. 

Now, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, Englishmen 
began to rely more on their own resources, and leave 
their foreign competitors behind. First, however, the 
power of Spain had to be reckoned with, and the 
defeat of the Spanish Armada meant for the English 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 163 

not only a deliverance from invasion, but also the 
crippling of a formidable opponent in the command 
of the seas. 

London took a prominent part in the vanquishing of 
the Armada. Its merchants came forward to train on 
the artillery ground at Finsbury, that is Fensbury, and 
formed a good part of the force that was drawn up at 
Tilbury Fort to defend the entrance to the Thames. 
Its citizens raised 10,000 men and supplied sixteen 
ships. 

In the time of fervent rejoicings, when all fear of 
invasion was past, we see Elizabeth passing along the 
Strand to join in the general thanksgiving at St. Paul's 
for the national deliverance. We can picture her 
course. On the north lay the gardens of the old 
convent of Westminster, bounded by lanes and open 
ground, the village of St. Giles, and the church of St. 
Martin's-in-the-iields. 

On the south, and stretching to the riverside, were 
the houses of the nobility, among them the house of her 
favourite the Earl of Essex, whose name is still pre- 
served for us in the present Essex Street and Devereux 
Court. 

In the reign of her successor, there was added to 
the houses of the nobility in the Strand, Salisbury 
House, the residence of the chief representative of the 
Cecil family, and this is marked out for us still in 
Salisbury Street. 

Raleigh, like Cecil, belongs to the reign of Elizabeth 
as well as to that of James I. His visions of a colonial 
empire for his countrymen will be recalled whenever 
the name of Virginia is heard. His imprisonment in 
the Tower, and his execution in Old Palace Yard, 
make us feel the decadence in going from the Tudor 
to the Stuart times : 



164- THE ASSOCIATION OF 

" Reader, should you reflect on his errors, 
Remember his many virtues. 
And that he was a mortal". 

The names of Essex and Raleigh will bring to our 
minds scenes in Ireland, scenes which ultimately led 
up to the confiscation of the land in Munster and in 
Ulster. Part of the forfeited estates in the north were 
handed over to the London City Council, which 
undertook to establish "plantations" or colonies there. 
Thus it was that the Irish town of Derry adopted 
its present name of "Londonderry". 



STUART TIMES 



The reigns of the Stuarts are complementary to 
those of the Tudors. We can read in the former 
the natural sequel to the forces which overthrew 
the latter, and London provides illustrations of the 
various movements. 

Scotland Yard had derived its name and importance 
from its site for an old palace of the Scottish kings, 
and the union of the two crowns under James I meant 
that it could serve other uses. As if to compensate 
for the loss of one magnate, the Spanish Ambassador 
established a " garden" house eastwards of Houndsditch, 
amidst fair hedgerows of elm trees with bridges and 
easy stiles to pass over into the pleasant fields. In this 
palace we may read the might of the Spanish monarch, 
who, though shaken by the Spanish Armada's defeat, 
was still apparently very formidable. 

At first it seemed as though the commercial devel- 
opment which had marked Elizabeth's years would 
be continued under her successor. James was genuinely 
anxious to encourage trade, and on the northern side 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 165 

of the site of Buckingham Palace he had estabHshed 
a mulberry garden so that he might encourage the 
keeping of silkworms for the manufacture of their 
silk. 

Though he did not realize that London was never 
to rank high as a producing centre, yet Britain's capital 
continued to grow, and the growth of the period can 
be read in the names of the streets — Henrietta Street, 
Great Queen Street, Charles Street, James Street, York 
Street, Villiers Street, and Buckingham Street. 

Its increase in extent meant also an increase in 
political power, so that on the outbreak of the great 
Civil War, the opposition of the city to the king 
greatly increased the heavy odds against him. Charles 
was forced to flee from his capital, which was fortified 
against him ; and the name of Mount Street, where 
one of the earthen ramparts was fixed, helps us to 
locate the limits to which London had extended on 
the west. 

The political questions of the struggle were com- 
plicated with those of a religious character, and the 
way in which each side showed its contempt for what 
the other held most sacred, is typified in the use by 
Cromwell of Old St. Paul's for a horse-quarter for his 
troops. The destruction of the Cathedral by fire in 
1666 was considered by some of his opponents the 
necessary purging for such profanity. 

" But since it was profan'd by civil war 
Heav'n thought it fit to have it purg'd by fire." 

The religious strife in France had an important 
result for London. Upwards of 13,000 Protestants 
came to England, in consequence of the Revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes, and built and colonized Long 
Acre, Soho, and Spitalfields. 



1 66 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The civil war decided that the king exists for the 
people's good, and London contains evidence that 
Charles II was prepared to accept the kingship on 
the new conditions, in fact that his one settled policy 
was that he should never go on his travels again. 
His pleasures are written in the Mall where he and 
his courtiers played the fashionable game, in Bird Cage 
Walk where he had his aviary, and in the new " canal" 
in St. James's Park where the cavaliers who had spent 
their exile in Holland practised the art of skating 
which they had learned during their banishment. 

The change which had come over the distribution 
of political power was shown in the establishment 
of "coffee-houses", which were somewhat of the nature 
of political clubs. 

The neglect of Nature's laws met with dire punish- 
ment in the Great Plague of 1665, while in the next 
year "fire", the greatest of all purifiers, made the 
Londoners start anew to refound a large part of their 
city. 

The reassertion of Nature's dominion over man, 
or rather shall we say the punishment which she 
metes out when great inequalities are created by 
man, is illustrated in the London fogs which are 
charged with enormous quantities of smoke from the 
household fires. This pollution of the atmosphere 
is said to have been the reason why William of 
Orange chose Kensington Palace for his residence, 
and moved from the city thither. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 167 

LONDON, CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE 
(Part I) 

In early British times, London, raised above the 
waters of the incoming tide, was a convenient site 
for settlement. In Roman times it was a suitable 
place for trade, and for a defence to the principal 
entrance into the land. 

In present-day times its importance is due to its 
position as the centre of the land hemisphere and 
the capital of the British Empire. 

As its natural position is in complete accordance 
with the dignity which it is called upon to assume, 
it is not unfitting that we should examine its imperial 
character. Evidence is forthcoming in the vast scale 
of the London Docks, and in the tonnage of the 
vessels which enter and clear its port each year. 

Though the docks are the growth of the nineteenth 
century, they will serve to illustrate historical develop- 
ment. The Commercial Docks, Rotherhithe, on the 
south side of the Thames, are said to occupy the 
first portion of the trench which Canute made thence 
to Battersea. 

The East India Docks and the West India Docks 
formerly belonged to the respective companies of those 
names, and though they now accommodate all kinds 
of shipping, they were first restricted to the trade from 
the districts which are indicated by their names. 

The increase in the size of the ocean-going vessels 
may be read in the creation of docks lower down 
the river, the Victoria and the Albert Docks and 
those at Tilbury over against Gravesend. Thus 
the limit which formerly marked the "end" of the 
jurisdiction of the "reeve" or "gerefa" marks the 
extent of London's present dock accommodation. 



1 68 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

The products of India and the Colonies are collected 
together for exhibition elsewhere than at the docks. 
As the reign of Queen Victoria saw the consolidation 
of the British Empire, it was but fitting that the 
Imperial Institute for the collection and storage of 
Imperial products should be founded to commemorate 
the Jubilee of the good and great Queen. 

In some respects, the Imperial Institute resembles 
the Crystal Palace, for whereas the former was the 
permanent embodiment of the Colonial and Indian 
Exhibition of 1886, so the Crystal Palace was the 
development of the Great Industrial Exhibition of 
1851. 

The personal memories of the British Empire which 
London has collected, would exhaust many chapters. 
Not only are there the records in stone in the shrines 
at Westminster and St. Paul's, but in the roar and 
bustle of the city, as well as in the retirement of the 
parks and pleasure grounds, there are tributes raised 
by a grateful country. 

In Hyde Park, near the entrance from Piccadilly, 
stands the statue of Achilles cast from the cannons 
which were taken during the Peninsular War. This 
statue was erected by a public subscription in honour 
of the great Duke of Wellington. 

Waterloo Place recalls the name of Wellington's 
greatest triumph, and there is placed the Crimean 
monument in memory of the Guards who perished 
in the war with Russia. On the front are the figures 
of a Grenadier, a Fusilier, and a Coldstream Guard in 
full marching costume ; behind are the Russian guns 
which were taken at Sebastopol. 

Peace hath victories no less renowned than those of 
war, and near by is a statue of Sir John Franklin, who 
sacrificed his life in completing the discovery of the 
North- West Passage, a.d. 1847-8. The relief on the 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 169 

front of the pedestal depicts the burial of the remains 
of the expedition. 

The greatest of all the London monuments in 
honour of national heroes is the Nelson Column in 
Trafalgar Square. The monument built to com- 
memorate the Great Fire is higher, for its 202 feet 
was designed to represent the distance from its site 
to the baker's house in Pudding Lane where the fire 
originated. 

But the Nelson Column occupies one of the finest 
sites in Europe, and the general conception is worthy 
of the national sentiment which prompted the voluntary 
contributions for its erection. 

The pedestal is enriched with heavy bas-reliefs which 
were cast from the guns captured from the French. 
On the west face, Nelson is seen receiving the sword 
of the Spanish Admiral after his triumph at St. Vincent. 
On the north is a scene from the battle of the Nile, 
where the wounded hero is seen refusing the attentions 
of the surgeon out of his turn. On the east, the 
sailor-hero is shown sealing on a cannon the treaty of 
peace after his victory at Copenhagen, while on the 
south is the representation of the last scene of his life. 



LONDON, CAPITAL OF THE EMPIRE 
(Part II) 

London, in the modern industrial era, has become 
the centre of the Empire's banking and exchange, but 
it has on the other hand suffered eclipse in its political 
importance. 

In early times, what the Londoners willed became 
the verdict of the land. It was their voice that was 
paramount in the selection or rejection of kings. 



1 70 THE ASSOCIATION OF 

Before the Norman Conquest, London's choice was 
always taken as the choice of the country, and William 
the Conqueror, though claiming the Crown as of right, 
did not neglect to add to his success at Hastings, the 
further practical title which was given in the acclama- 
tion of London's citizens. 

Conversely, the deposition of kings followed their 
loss of London's confidence. Froissart recounts how 
the Londoners promised aid to Queen Isabella in the 
plot to dethrone her husband. The arrest of Richard 
II was effected by an army composed entirely of 
Londoners, and when Henry IV was threatened by 
a conspiracy he found consolation in the assurance of 
the Lord Mayor, " Sire, King we have made you. 
King we will keep you". The fate of Henry VI 
was definitely sealed, when the city, after hesitating 
to commit itself to a policy of resistance, as long as 
there was hope that time would put an end to the 
difficulties of the situation, decided on a course of 
opposition when an heir to the throne was born. 

The outlook was black for Lady Jane Grey when 
the Londoners stood apathetically by while she was 
proclaimed Queen. Charles I ruined his cause when 
he quarrelled with the city, and it was London that 
forced James II to vacate the throne and create the 
opportunity for William of Orange. 

The political weight of the capital was due to the 
unanimity with which its opinion could be expressed, 
and this was as effective as its wealth. 

With the growth of the great industrial centres of 
the North and Midlands, the political centre of gravity 
was shifted, and the mass of people in Lancashire could 
give the lead which once belonged to London, hence 
the saying, " What Lancashire thinks to-day, England 
thinks to-morrow". 

There is yet another aspect in which London exer- 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 171 

cises influence as the capital. It attracts to itself what 
is best in the provinces, but as city life tends to physical 
degeneration there is need for places under the British 
flag where the race can renew its strength, and 
physical vigour, so that the consequences foretold foi 
the degenerate citizens of Rome may be avoided: 

"They did not spring from sires like these 
The noble youth who dyed the seas 
With Carthaginian gore ; 
Who great Antiochus overcame 
And Hannibal of yore ; 
But they of rustic warriors wight 
The manly offspring learned to smite 
The soil with Sabine spade, 
And faggots they had to cut, to bear 
Home from the forest whensoe'er 
An austere mother bade". 

— Martin's Horace, Odes, III, 6. 



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